This is what pressure looks like in the WSL: not a dramatic collapse, not a public meltdown, but a stubborn run of results that keeps getting harder to explain away. Arsenal head into Saturday’s north London derby against Tottenham with five league matches without a win, their title hopes seemingly evaporated and their Champions League qualification picture suddenly looking far less comfortable than it should for a club of this size.
Last Saturday’s failure to beat Birmingham at home only sharpened the mood. Arsenal are already 12 points behind the leaders after six games and nine points adrift of third-placed London City, which is why this derby matters far beyond local pride. It is no longer just about beating Tottenham. It is about stopping the slide before it starts to define the season.
Slegers has praise in the cabinet, but the league table is brutal
That is the awkward tension around Renée Slegers right now. In May 2025 she guided Arsenal to Champions League glory, and the Arsenal hierarchy are understood to remain behind her. But no amount of credit from last season can hide the reality of this one: the league form has been nowhere near good enough. Slegers admitted as much, saying the recent results are “absolutely not what we expected” or wanted, but made clear that her focus is on preparation, not panic.
She insisted that she is not thinking about her own future, saying that is “not something I think about.” Instead, she framed the situation around collective responsibility: “It’s about, ‘where are we as a group?’ and ‘what are we working towards?’” That is the right message, but it only works if the performances improve quickly. Right now, Arsenal are asking supporters to trust the process while the points keep disappearing.
A derby can change the mood, but not erase the evidence
There is still enough quality here to turn things around, and Slegers was keen to stress unity inside the camp, saying: “We have the group together.” She also pointed to the atmosphere around the game, saying everyone is “going in the same direction” and that the “fuel and motivation is sky high, because of the fans that will be there for us.”
That last part matters, because derbies have a habit of cutting through the noise. Tottenham have been humbled in consecutive Women's Super League matches, which gives Arsenal a chance to reset the conversation in a single afternoon. But this is not just about emotional momentum. Slegers herself acknowledged the obvious when she said, “Of course that’s in the back of our heads, but what we need right now is to get back to winning ways.”
That is the blunt truth. Arsenal do not need a speech, a slogan or a carefully managed tone. They need points. They need their season to stop wobbling. And they need to show, against Tottenham, that this is still a team capable of behaving like one with serious ambitions rather than one trapped in a damaging run of near-misses.
