Arsenal brought Chloe Kelly back into the starting lineup for Wednesday’s 2–1 win over Real Madrid, a matchup where she has historically been influential. In their meeting last March, Kelly delivered two assists from right-side crosses and narrowly missed a third due to an offside call. One of Arsenal’s goals that night also came from a set piece. So when Arsenal again scored via a Kelly cross and a dead-ball situation on Wednesday, Arseblog News asked coach Renée Slegers if exploiting Madrid with wide deliveries had been a deliberate strategy.
Slegers confirmed it was. She explained that Arsenal identified vulnerabilities in Madrid’s fullback areas and placed emphasis on creating overloads out wide. With players such as Olivia Smith and Kelly able to dominate 1v1s, stretching play on the flanks was central to the plan. Because Kelly had caused Madrid so many problems previously, the team aimed to recreate those same crossing opportunities, though Slegers felt they could have produced even more of them.
Kelly attempted 14 crosses in just over an hour, an unusually high number for a team that generally prefers lower-driven balls into the box. Arsenal also took a more aggressive approach on corners, mirroring the men’s team by crowding the back post and attacking aerially. Their confidence came from the fact that while they win under half of their aerial duels in the WSL this season (48%), they dominated this game at 66%.
Several sequences showed how Arsenal repeatedly used overloads to free Kelly on the right. Mariona and Maanum often drifted wide to draw defenders away, enabling Kelly to deliver quick, high crosses into the area. Madrid struggled to deal with these looping balls and were frequently forced into last-ditch clearances. Russo, in particular, thrived on this service, creating or finishing multiple chances.
Cooney-Cross’s long diagonal passes were another key component, helping Arsenal isolate Kelly against Madrid fullback Yasmim. Each time Kelly received the ball, she crossed early, maintaining the same dangerous trajectory that led to Russo’s equaliser, another high, first-time ball back into the box after an initial attempt at an underlapping combination was cut out.
Arsenal also created right-side overloads through Fox, Maanum, and Wubben-Moy, all contributing to waves of high deliveries into the penalty area. Even after Kelly was substituted, the strategy continued. Beth Mead’s corners followed the same crowded-back-post setup, leading to more free headers, including another Russo glancing effort.
By the end of the match, Arsenal had attempted 28 crosses their highest total of the season with Kelly responsible for half of them. Having already produced three assists vs. Madrid this year from right-wing crosses and with Russo scoring four goals from similar deliveries, it was clear why Slegers leaned heavily on this approach once again.
Be the first to comment