{"id":6509,"date":"2026-05-09T15:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6509"},"modified":"2026-05-09T15:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:26:33","slug":"renee-hails-dominant-display-at-villa-park-interview-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6509","title":{"rendered":"Ren\u00e9e hails dominant display at Villa Park | Interview | News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Ren\u00e9e Slegers hailed the energy within her side as we produced a dominant display to beat Aston Villa 3-0 at Villa Park.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having played on Wednesday evening at Brighton, we were back in action early on Saturday in the Midlands, but we showed no signs of fatigue, netting twice in the first half through Alessia Russo and Frida Maanum.<\/p>\n

Russo bagged her 22nd of the season in the second half to complete the afternoon’s work and following the game, Ren\u00e9e praised the side’s ability to overcome recent results against Lyon in the UEFA Women’s Champions League and Brighton in the WSL.<\/p>\n

“We wanted to show the Arsenal way and how much we love to be on the ball and make sure that we are in positions to be on the ball as much as possible, because that’s when we’re really, really good. So I was happy we started with that, spent quite some time on the ball and got the early goal.<\/p>\n

“If you look at the context and going into this game with the mental hits of exiting the Champions League and the draw against Brighton, we had to deal with that. Villa away was hard for us last year. <\/p>\n

“The home game, which was one of our games we drew, so we conceded that late corner 1-1. So the challenge was there. Plus the short turnaround from an evening game on Wednesday night to a very early kick-off today. <\/p>\n

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\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n

Report: Aston Villa 0-3 Arsenal Women <\/span>
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“So what the team has produced today is really, really good. \u00a0I think we nullified their strengths, we kept a clean sheet again, and we dominated most parts of the game.”<\/p>\n

Russo and Maanum were in perfect synchronicity at Villa Park, both producing fine assists for each other on a sun-drenched Saturday.<\/p>\n

On their link-up play, Ren\u00e9e said: “They’ve played a lot together, both last season and this season, so their partnership is really strong. They work so well together out of possession, and in possession, they combined really well today as well.<\/p>\n

“I think what Alessia does in the nine and the spaces that she can create and get into, and then how Frida can create space, because big parts of the game she was marked away, so she had to create spaces, which she did really well.”<\/p>\n

The result means we’re assured of at least third place and a place in the UWCL qualifying rounds. But with two games to play, second place and an automatic spot in the UWCL is still up for grabs.<\/p>\n

Our final home match takes place against Everton on Wednesday, May 13, a game Ren\u00e9e is now fully focused on.<\/p>\n

She said: “Very excited. Of course, the minimum we want to achieve as Arsenal is to secure Champions League, so that’s good, but we want more, and we want to perform really well in front of our supporters at Emirates Stadium, so we look forward to the game against Everton.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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