Alessia Russo sat down with a small circle of journalists on Friday afternoon to discuss Sunday’s game against Chelsea. Arseblog News was in that small circle and here are the highlights from that conversation.
Russo is asked about her journey as a forward. When she was younger at Chelsea, she often played in the wide forward positions, where she has spent a little bit of time for Arsenal too. But she has made her name as a 9 and she says that she has learned a lot about the position in recent years.
‘You hone your instincts as a kid when you grow up playing in that position, as I get older and play the position more I find out that there is so much more to learn. There are so many fine details that can be the difference between you scoring and not, even before the shot comes, positioning and timing, so much goes into it. Every day you can get better.’ Russo has seven goals in her last six WSL games, she is asked whether she believes in ‘form.’
‘As a player you go through different spells and different things come into it, confidence or you’re not playing consistently or different things like that. Form is a thing and you have to find out what makes you tick when you feel good. For me, it also comes down to training, we spend so much time in training so I am just trying to be better every day and do what I can every day.’ Russo puts a lot of her current form down to a word she will repeat a few times during the round table. Enjoyment.
‘Enjoyment comes into it, for sure. I really do believe that I play better when I am enjoying it. Even as a kid, my happiest memories are just playing football, I love the game and I feel that at the moment. I am excited and happy to come into work every day. I have always loved coming into training, I don’t call it ‘work’ even though I am fortunate enough that football is work.’
In December, Russo won the Arsenal and WSL Player of the Month awards and the Arsenal and WSL Goal of the Month awards. She says she enjoyed that purple patch but she is thinking about how to extend it.
‘I said to myself over the Christmas break that December was a great month and I loved it and I had some great results but it is up to me to keep it going and keep getting better. You can always do more, how you are positioning yourself, how you work off the ball and you know when you are working hard and when you are running and that can keep you very balanced.’
Arsenal go to Chelsea on Sunday trailing the league leaders by seven points, there has been a rivalry between the two clubs that has developed over the last decade and Russo says her and the players are aware of it, even if they don’t allow it to govern their approach to these derbies.
‘I would never say that beating Chelsea doesn’t mean anything, of course it means everything. When you come to Arsenal you know the history of the club and competing against Chelsea is part of the history of the club. I know what we have got and what we are capable of and the journey we are on, ultimately we go into every game wanting to win it and it’s no different on Sunday.’
This week, Jen Beattie announced her retirement from football. Russo spent just over six months as Beattie’s teammate before the Scot left for Bay FC in February 2024. Russo was full of praise for the former Gunners defender. ‘She has been amazing, I wish I had got more time to be her teammate, not just because of what she offers on the pitch but off the pitch as well.
‘She is a lovely person, she welcomed me in straight away at Arsenal, what she has been through as a person and how her career has been is just incredible. She is one of those players you look up to as a kid and she has left the game in a better place.’ Following the Brighton game, Renee Slegers told us that she often finishes training with a finishing competition, which clearly appeals to a player like Russo.
‘The staff will tell you I am a pain when it comes to finishing in training, I am always trying to make us do more. Renee has brought in a new finishing competition we do every now and then, which is a nice bit of fun we enjoy in training, it’s nice to have that in there for a bit of competition too.’
Arseblog News asks whether Arsenal have focused any of their preparation for Sunday’s game against Chelsea on how they start the game. The last two games against the league leaders have got away from them inside the opening stages, they trailed 2-0 after 12 minutes in October and 3-0 after 32 minutes last season.
‘We often reflect on different moments in games and when momentum is with us and when it is not,’ Russo explains. ‘We understand the start of the game is really important. It hasn’t served us best in the recent games (with Chelsea) but it’s something we are working on. We want to start fast, we are a quick, attacking team, we want to put a stamp on the game early. It is something we are aware of as a team and something where we want to progress each week.’
Arsenal go into the game with a seven point deficit to Sonia Bompastor’s side, a win potentially keeps the title race alive, a defeat and a 10 point gap will be virtually impossible to make up. Russo rejects the idea that that makes the game any more daunting for her team.
‘Every game for us right now is a must win game because of the stakes and how good the teams around us are. A 10 point gap wouldn’t be ideal but every game we have is a must win, it is an exciting part of the season, going into cup games, going into big games at this point of the season. A lot rides on every game, the pressure is on but we are all ready for that.’
Arsenal’s fortunes have quickly been traversed under the leadership of Renee Slegers, who took interim charge of the club following Jonas Eidevall’s resignation in October. Slegers was made permanent Head Coach recently and Russo finds it difficult to pinpoint why things have changed so drastically.
‘It’s tough to pinpoint, people are feeling really good. We are having lots of football conversations within units and groups and people seem to be really clear on their roles. You can see we’re playing with freedom within a structure and a game plan but players have got that instinctive edge to go and express themselves as well.’
Ahead of Sunday’s clash at the Bridge, Russo perhaps best encapsulates the mood with one of her final salvos of the interview. ‘We know it’s a big one, we’re excited but calm.’
It will be a game of Arsenal’s mentality, against Chelsea’s physical strength. And Renée has implemented something in these girls’ minds, which is a clear change, I hope that the goal that she and Stina didn’t score against Brighton, they score against Chelsea.