After winning an unprecedented Champions League title back in May, expectations were high for this Arsenal side coming into the 2025-26 season. Could the Gunners use their European success as a springboard and really challenge for the Women's Super League title this time around? Could they finally end Chelsea's incredible dominance which has now seen them claim each of the last six league crowns, as well as 13 of the last 18 domestic honours?

So far, the answers to those questions appear to be unchanged and, as such, negative. Before the international break, Arsenal endured a four-game winless run for the first time since January 2022, and although they were able to stop the rot with wins over Brighton and Benfica before players headed off on national-team duty, neither performance was particularly convincing. As they prepare to resume WSL action this weekend, the Gunners are five points behind leaders Chelsea, having won just three of their first six games, and sit fifth in standings, behind north London rivals Tottenham.

It was only five months ago that this Arsenal team, under new head coach Renee Slegers, stunned Barcelona in the Champions League final having enjoyed an historic comeback victory over Real Madrid in the quarter-finals before battering eight-time European champions Lyon in their own backyard in the semis. So why have they been unable to build on that at the start of this season and what can they do to reignite what has so far been a sluggish and disappointing campaign? 

Getty ImagesBe temporarily pragmatic

One of the most notable struggles Arsenal have had in the early stages of this season has come in the form of high-profile mistakes when playing out from the back. That's been a particular issue amid the absence of Leah Williamson, whose quality in possession is a big reason why the Gunners are usually so good in building out from the defence, and whose spell on the sidelines has certainly had a negative impact on that facet of the team's game thus far this season.

Encouragingly, Slegers took steps to address these errors, explaining after the win over Brighton: "We’ve been working on the build-up and, when the ball is in our own half, how we can have more forward intent so we don’t have to go backwards and teams can just go high and player for player and everyone is under pressure."

It has had an immediately positive impact, not just because Arsenal have won their last two games but because they've kept two clean sheets in them, at least in part due to the fact that they've not been putting themselves in precarious situations in possession.

A few days later, Slegers explained that she saw this as a "medium- or long-term" measure. "We want to find ways to beat that press but also not to invite the press and that is what we have been working on," she added.

It's vital that, despite turning things around a little in recent weeks, Slegers sticks with this for the time being and doesn't allow those errors to creep back into Arsenal's game, especially while Williamson remains sidelined. If those issues return, it would be seriously problematic. 

AdvertisementGetty ImagesShow more positivity and urgency in the final third

Arsenal have been underwhelming in attack too, particularly with the lack of urgency shown in the opposition's half. Take the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, for example, where the Gunners were 1-0 up until a late, late equaliser from their visitors punished them for not finishing the game off.

"I just don’t think we have the intensity and urgency in and around the box to kill the game, because we get an early goal," Slegers noted after that result. "But as long as it’s 1-0, the opposition always feels like they’re still in the game. You only need one moment and that’s what happened today."

That felt like the case in the 1-0 win over Brighton, too, despite Arsenal's lead coming about as a result of a rather lucky own goal. Fortunately, the Seagulls were unable to make them pay for that lack of chance creation as the Gunners ended their winless run.

But Slegers' side should absolutely not be resting on their laurels in these games. If they want to really turn that form around and reel off the results that are needed to get them back into the WSL title race, while proving that they can put up a sturdy European title defence, they have to show more urgency and positivity in the final third and a greater will to get shots off when the space opens up, rather than passing up the opportunity to get a strike on goal, regardless of the scoreline.

Getty ImagesCreate chances for Russo

It's especially important for Arsenal to look more dangerous in the final third because Alessia Russo, who had her best goal-scoring season to date last term, has been starved of service. In the WSL, the England international ranks 16th for shots and 31st for shots on target, per 90 minutes, with her able to score just one goal from open play, and one penalty, in the competition as a result. That simply has to improve if the Gunners are to return to their best.

It's not really on Russo, either. To watch Arsenal is to watch some great build-up and some especially electric wide play, only for the final ball to disappoint. So often, the crosses from the wings are particularly poor, which has been frustrating given how great a lot of the work before that is. Russo's movement, positioning and awareness in the box has come on leaps and bounds, and her team-mates need to improve balls into the area for her to allow her to continue to showcase that and make Arsenal a more efficient and effective team going forward.

Getty Images SportReignite Kelly's form

Factoring into the need for that service for Russo to improve is the form of Chloe Kelly, which Arsenal need to reignite to make themselves a more dangerous attacking prospect. The England star was outstanding after signing for the Gunners on loan back in January, providing a series of game-changing moments and performances during her four months back in north London, so much so that the club opted to make the move permanent in the summer.

Despite continuing that theme of being an elite difference-maker at the European Championship, where her heroics were key to England's second successive continental triumph, Kelly has struggled for form at the start of this new season. That is clearly down to fitness to some degree, with some heavy strapping on her knee visible earlier this month. If the Gunners can nurse her back to full health, though, she could provide a real boost to a team that has lacked attacking spark on more than one occasion, with her quick-thinking assist for Russo in the win over Benfica just before the international break a great reminder of as much.