Four goals in five games! England star Alessia Russo's extra goal-scoring work can be key to Arsenal's Women's Super League title charge

On the face of it, for a striker who was the subject of a world-record bid last January, Russo's 10 goals in 22 appearances so far this season is underwhelming. But that Arsenal tried to prise her away from Manchester United with such a huge fee six months before they snapped her up for free shows just how much belief Eidevall has in her potential, as well as what she can bring to the table right now.

The England star has never been ridiculously prolific. That, though, is because she’s not a natural fox in the box, a classic poacher who gobbles up opportunities in and around the goalmouth. Russo likes to drop deep to get on the ball and brings a lot to the table in the build-up play with her ability in possession, clever movement and how that opens up space for others.

But any team that wants to win trophies needs their No.9 to shoulder their share of the goal-scoring burden, and Arsenal and Russo are no different. “As a No.9, one of your main roles for the team is to score goals,” Eidevall said on Sunday. “Our forwards are point players, they need to contribute with points. That’s for our No.9, for our 10, for our two wide forwards. That’s never going to change.”

And so it’s important that Russo develops her goal-scoring instincts, too. “We spoke about that in the last block before the international window, that’s an area to improve,” the Arsenal boss admitted. “I think she was doing that very, very well today and she gets her reward as well. It looks like an easy goal to score, but it’s an impossible goal to score if you’re not in that position.”

You could say that about many of the goals Russo has scored in recent weeks. The strike against Spurs, which Eidevall describes, was an emphatic finish inside the six-yard box after the ball fell kindly to her from Beth Mead – but she’d anticipated play well to be in that area when it did.

While away with England in the international break, Russo was on the scoresheet with a brace against Austria, her first a simple tap-in after she’d charged into the six-yard box to pounce on Mead’s spilled shot, while her second was another case of being in the right place at the right time, as Georgia Stanway pressed high and created a one-on-one opportunity for Russo in the box, which she took with an assured and clinical finish.

The goal that started this purple patch came just before that England camp, against second-tier London City Lionesses in the quarter-finals of the Conti Cup. The header wasn’t as simple as the trio of goals that have followed it, but it was her play in the build-up that Eidevall appreciated. “We create a really good crossing situation and Lessi is great in that whole attack,” he told Arseblog. “She has 60 seconds of perfect positioning as a No.9. She only touches the ball once and that’s when she scores.”

But there have been games this season where Russo has cut an isolated figure, one lacking the necessary support to really perform at her best. It feels like getting players around her who she can link-up with is key to maximising her talent, and her performances in the 3-5-2 formation with England at last year’s World Cup were a good example of this, the 25-year-old combining very well with Lauren Hemp in that front two.

There were positive signs earlier this season when Russo bounced off Stina Blackstenius in a similar shape, but absences in defence - most notably with Leah Williamson recovering from an ACL injury - have limited Arsenal’s ability to use a back three. It has often been a case of Russo or Blackstenius, then, rather than playing them together. This could change as Williamson returns and it could be one option for the Gunners to get more out of Russo, with Eidevall admitting that they are still in the process of figuring it all out.

“We have a lot of options for players who can play in offense who have various strengths,” the coach said last month when asked about the structure around Russo. “That is really nice because we have a lot of tools in the box, but we look at how do we use them and how we use them together and what relationships do we build?

“You are onto something really interesting there in saying, ‘How do we play to a player’s strengths and what does that player need to have around her for that to happen? What situations are our preference to set up?’ That is where you can see we are not a fully mature team in that yet. That is the process we are in and working with. It is an exciting process and I can see how we are developing, but it means we haven’t reached the heights of our offensive play yet.”

In terms of those relationships being built, recent weeks have seen Russo benefit often from the work of Mead, a goal-scoring winger who likes to drift inside and be a penalty-box presence, owing to her own earlier days as a No.9. Against Spurs, it was Mead who burst into the box to get onto the end of Kim Little’s superb pass before it fell kindly to Russo. When the striker broke the deadlock against Austria for England last month, it was Mead’s spilled shot that she pounced on to finish.

“Me and Less have been working hard on and off the pitch for club,” Mead told reporters after that 7-2 win for the Lionesses. “I think we’re starting to understand each other a lot better on the pitch. I enjoy crossing balls and I think Less is kind of learning to try and get on the end of them. She was in the right place at the right time tonight. Less was there and she knows those types of balls and it’s nice to strengthen our relationship for club and country.”

Mead is only recently back from an ACL injury that sidelined her for the best part of a year so is still getting to her back levels after so long out, but as the pair spend more time together on the pitch, she could prove to be the perfect foil for Russo for club and country.

But it’s not just about Arsenal finding the right structure for their centre-forward or other players understanding her more. It’s also about Russo developing as a goal-scorer. Eidevall says that he’s spoken with the 25-year-old about being better in the penalty area, with it all part of that vision of her becoming a 20-goal striker.

“It’s a big part of her development to get her into goal-scoring opportunities,” he said. “That is the thing, most football players are very ambitious and want to help the team. What people generally do to help the team is to show for the ball, but what you need in football, especially in the No.9 position, is to create space for yourself and the team.

“One of the best things to do to create space is to go away from where the ball is because it is really hard for the defender to see you and the ball at the same time, and those are your two biggest cues as a defender. That is not only Alessia Russo, that is all No.9s playing around the world, but it’s a part where she is developing.”

Asked about how to shift Russo’s mindset to one of a fox in the box, given her tendency to drop deep and get on the ball, Eidevall explained: “We work with the positioning and making sure you get into those situations more often, by having the right position and the right angle and making the most out of it. The amount of touches you get as a No.9 is, in most teams, the most limited amount of touches for all the outfield players. It is not about increasing those touches, it is about increasing the quality of those touches.

“That is generally what you need to work on with forward players. Everyone would like the ball a bit more, but the reality in football is that area is going to be more restricted. You will have fewer touches so it is about dealing with that reality, having fewer touches and not getting impatient and going towards the ball in the wrong moment, but instead anticipating the right moment.”

As he rightly notes, Arsenal are “blessed” to have someone particularly special on the coaching staff who can help Russo here, too, in Kelly Smith, the former Gunners forward who is widely regarded as England’s greatest ever player.

All this extra work Russo and Arsenal are doing to improve her goal-scoring threat is starting to bear fruit, as the last few weeks have shown. It’ll take time to get the 25-year-old to the heights Eidevall believes she can reach, but if they can continue to make progress like this, it can help them in the short-term as well as the long-term.

The Gunners have had problems in the final third this season. No team in the WSL is underperforming their expected goals by a greater rate, with Arsenal also having fifth-worst shot conversion rate in the division. If they can continue to fine-tune the structure around Russo, if she can work on her positioning and she and her team-mates continue to improve their on-pitch relationships, they can squeeze more and more out of the England star’s abilities as a goal-scorer and it can help the whole team to improve in the final third.

If Arsenal want to end this season with silverware, be it retaining the Conti Cup, winning the WSL for the first time in five years or even both, they absolutely have to improve when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net. The glimpses Russo has shown in refining her game in the final third will be a welcome sight, then, and can certainly give the Gunners a reason to be optimistic as the title race prepares to reach its crescendo.