LONDON — After a slow start to the Women’s Super League (WSL) season, Arsenal striker Alessia Russo is bursting into life.
Having struggled to score in her first eight games in all competitions, the 25-year-old was often subbed out for Stina Blackstenius in the second half, or (as was the case when Arsenal hosted Man City in September) benched from the start.
But since she netted her first goal of the season in the Gunners’ 1-1 draw away at Manchester United in early November, she has gone on a fine run and has five WSL goals — all coming in her last four appearances — and one in the Champions League.
When on form, there are few better up front than the England international. And in Sunday’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa, which saw the side stretch their unbeaten run to eight games under interim coach Renee Slegers, she proved how her clinical finishing and intelligent movement in front of goal are a key part of the attack, opening and closing the scoring in N5.
Russo’s brace cemented her place as Arsenal’s top goal-scorer in the WSL this season. She broke the deadlock in the rout after 17 minutes, feeding off a free kick from Kyra Cooney-Cross to head home, and then finished things off after bullying Villa’s defence to get to the ball first and volley it into the top corner in the last minute.
While her finishing ability is obvious, Russo’s footballing intelligence is a vital part of her game and it was key here. Her pass to Cooney-Cross and holding of Villa’s defensive line allowed Katie McCabe to cross the ball to Blackstenius for the third goal, and she is starting to gel with her teammates in a way that will send warning signs to her opponents.
“We have lots of conversations as players, whether it’s in training or when we’re just having some downtime, about how we can get the best out each other,” Russo told ESPN last month. “It always takes time when you play with new players, and they have different strengths to the ones that you are used to. But it’s also nice to learn how you can help them and how they can help you, because I think we have so much quality in this team all over the pitch.
“For me, talking about the frontline, we’re all so different and we all have so many different qualities. So to tap into all of them and make sure that we can get the best out of each other is something that is quite an enjoyable part of football.”
While Russo spent the first few months of the season being replaced by Blackstenius up front, on Sunday she dropped deeper in the formation as the Sweden international arrived in the 60th minute in place of No. 10 midfielder Frida Maanum. It is a tactic that was first tested against Brighton last season, under former boss Jonas Eidevall, but both players showcased their adaptability again and Slegers praised her forwards’ versatility in front of goal afterwards.
“We wanted to press the same height with Frida as we did with ‘Less [Russo] and Stina,” she said. “But in attack, obviously ‘Less is usually a No. 9, she comes down as a No. 10. There’s a specific space that we want her to find in the No. 10 and then someone else needs to fill another space.
“But we want to play to the player’s strength. So she probably comes a little bit higher, a little bit closer to the No. 9 position. But I think with all the creativity and all the intelligent players around, we still fill the spaces that we wanted.”
Something is clearly working and Russo looks reborn. The Gunners have won four of their five WSL games under Slegers, already surpassing the number of victories they managed in their final seven league matches last season under Eidevall. And, not only that, the win against Villa marked the first time Arsenal have kept three clean sheets and three wins in a row since October 2022.
“In training, we’ve been working specifically with the forwards, so Kelly Smith [an Arsenal legend, who retired in 2017] is with us, and we spend a little bit more time with the forwards working on the finishing specifically in their roles,” Slegers added.
“That, hopefully, is a part of why we are so clinical and ruthless at the moment. I think Kelly puts in great detail. But again, it’s all in play of how much effort and how much investment that comes from them [the players]. I think we’re in a good place at the moment, and we need to maintain that.”
If Arsenal can keep up their momentum, and Russo can keep scoring, then the club will hope they can close the gap to WSL juggernauts Manchester City and Chelsea before the end of the season.