Red-hot Alessia Russo finally looks like the prolific goal-scorer Arsenal thought they were signing - Lioness' deadly form must continue under next permanent boss to ensure Gunners' revival goes on

It's no secret that, over the last couple of years, Arsenal just have not scored enough goals. Last season, they netted 18 fewer than eventual champions Chelsea and in early November, they had bagged 13 fewer than their London rivals this term, despite having played a game more.

To help reduce that gap, it’s vital that they start to get the best out of Russo, who was signed after Eidevall identified her as the perfect striker for his system, but who did not develop into the prolific forward the club really needed during his tenure.

That said, even before her first goal of this WSL season, the signs were there that Russo was improving in most areas in her pursuit of becoming a more frequent goal-scorer. In the second half of last season, in comparison to the first half, her averages in all key metrics went up - those being touches in the opposition's box, total shots, shots on target, expected goals (xG) and goals. Even before her first league goal of this season, in the five games Eidevall oversaw, Russo’s touches in the opposition’s box and her shots on target were up from the 2023-24 campaign.

Since she bagged that goal, against former club Manchester United, the numbers have shot up again, with an injection of confidence in front of goal clearly doing her the world of good to the degree that she is now getting on the ball more, taking more shots and scoring more goals.

Is it just confidence behind Russo’s upturn in form? It definitely helps, there is no doubt about that. But there are other factors involved too. After all, she has been putting in the hard yards at training to get to this point, working with Arsenal icon Kelly Smith in the coaching staff to improve her fortunes in front of goal ever since the former England forward returned to the club in April of last year.

“On training, we worked specifically with the forwards, we have Kelly Smith with us and we spent a little bit more time working on finishing specifically with the forwards in their roles. That hopefully is a part of why we are so ruthless and clinical at the moment, Kelly puts in great details,” Slegers said earlier this month, asked about Russo’s recent purple patch after she netted twice in a 4-0 win over Aston Villa.

That effort during the week is something Slegers mentioned after Russo broke her WSL duck, too. “I am happy for her, she is a great player, she works very hard in training every day, she is humble, she asks questions and she wants to get better and those players with that mindset, over time they are going to develop. Alessia is that type of player,” she said. “I am happy for her and I think she is getting into good positions for a long time, so it is not only about Alessia but how we try to find her, what type of balls we get into the box.”

Under Slegers, it’s become more common to see Russo formally line-up in different areas, too. Eidevall did experiment with this a little at times, leaning into the striker’s tendency to drop deep and pull wide in order to get on the ball when she’d had few touches, but his former assistant has done so even more recently.

Against Valerenga last week in the Champions League, for example, the England international lined up on the left wing, with Stina Blackstenius playing as Arsenal's No.9. It was in that role that Russo scored one of her most impressive goals of the season, cutting inside onto her right foot and finding the far bottom corner brilliantly.

There have also been instances of Russo playing a little deeper while Blackstenius leads the line. “We want to play to the players’ strengths,” Slegers said, after this happened in the win over Villa.

It has all culminated in a really impressive and encouraging few weeks for Russo and Arsenal. On track to surpass her best ever return of 12 goals in a WSL season, and having bagged four in nine Champions League outings as well, it feels like she is finally starting to be unlocked in this team.

The Gunners will certainly hope that continues on Wednesday, when they take on Bayern Munich in their final UWCL group stage fixture, needing to defeat the German champions to beat them to top spot.

The bigger question, though, is whether it continues after the winter break. Slegers was placed in interim charge until the New Year, with the club set to thoroughly assess the coaching situation over the winter break, which begins after the game against Bayern.

Given Arsenal’s form under the Dutchwoman, she deserves to be in the running for the permanent role, if indeed she wants it. Yet, if it is someone else leading this team forward in 2025, they should be tapping into Slegers’ insight and looking back over these last six weeks if they want to understand how to get the best out of Russo in their tenure. Do so, and it'll certainly increase the Gunners' chances of enjoying a successful second half of the campaign.