Slegers Backed as Arsenal Women Visit WSL Leaders Manchester City

Seven points adrift of unbeaten WSL leaders Manchester City, Arsenal Women head to the Etihad with Renée Slegers still backed by the club hierarchy.

Arsenal Women face one of the biggest tests of their season on Sunday when they travel to Women's Super League leaders Manchester City. The meeting at the Etihad arrives with Renée Slegers's side under pressure after a disappointing stretch of results across competitions. Slegers heads into the fixture with the Arsenal leadership firmly behind her, backing that has held even as results have slipped.

The early standings give the fixture its weight. Arsenal have taken five points from their opening four league matches and begin the weekend seven points behind Manchester City, the defending champions. A gap of that size, this early in the campaign, gives an October fixture far more significance than the date would suggest.

Manchester City have set the standard so far. They have won all four of their league games and lead the WSL with 12 points from a possible 12. For an Arsenal side that has found goals hard to come by, a visit to the division's pace-setters is about the toughest assignment imaginable.

Arsenal's broader form going into the weekend explains the unease around the team. The club has won only once in its last five matches in all competitions, and last weekend brought a 1-0 defeat away to Chelsea.

A shortage of goals has been the thread running through the poor spell. Arsenal have scored just twice in their four WSL outings. Questions about the attack were already being asked after the draw with Manchester United earlier in the season, and they have lingered through every fixture since.

Europe brought no relief in midweek. Arsenal let a two-goal lead get away against Paris FC on Wednesday and had to settle for a 2-2 draw in the Champions League. It was the latest match in which a strong position produced an underwhelming outcome.

According to The Guardian, Slegers has sensed complete backing from the Arsenal hierarchy throughout the slump. She described the club's leadership as "really good and positive" and praised the "monumental leadership" coming from within her squad. That internal leadership, she suggested, has kept the group together during a tough period rather than allowing results to divide it.

The arithmetic on Sunday is stark. Defeat would leave Arsenal ten points behind Manchester City after only five rounds of the WSL season, ground that would be difficult to recover against a team that has dropped nothing so far. Victory, though, would leave the early table looking far more manageable and give the faith Slegers has repeatedly voiced in her players a major result to stand on. For Slegers's squad, the match offers more than a way out of the slump — it is a chance to reset the trajectory of the season.

Arsenal's visit to Manchester City kicks off Sunday, October 4, at 11:30 AM EDT at Etihad Stadium. The match streams on Paramount+.