Renee Slegers: Arsenal moving from Emirates for men’s game is a bump in the road

Earlier this week the club announced that the game on December 18 will take place at Meadow Park after a fixture clash with the men’s team meant they were unable to play at the Emirates Stadium as had been planned.

Mikel Arteta’s team face Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on the same day and the game cannot be moved due to Palace’s schedule as well as Tottenham playing Manchester United the following night.

UEFA have granted “special dispensation” for Meadow Park to be used.

She said: “I was playing for Arsenal’s academy in 2006 so I know how big Arsenal has been, over a long time, at pushing women’s football. That was the reason why I came to England.

“So historically, I think Arsenal has been leading in pushing for women’s football developing and I think it will do that in the future as well.

“I think this was a bump in the road and it will always happen. It’s like player development. You won’t go in a straight line up. There will be challenges on the way.

“I think this is a challenge but I think we’re all very proud of what Arsenal tries to do to push women’s football forward.”

Slegers was speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League clash against Juventus on Thursday.

The Gunners are second in Group C after enjoying a comfortable 4-0 win in Turin last Tuesday but Slegers insisted the reverse fixture will be a “new challenge”.

“I think we just have to stay in a moment and see what we have ahead of us. And obviously we analysed the away game against Juventus and they will do that as well,” she said.

“So it’s going to be a new challenge tomorrow. We’re one step further into the group phase and it’s a second game against each other.

“So they’re going to tweak things. They’re going to do things differently probably and we might want to do that as well. So I think it’s a new game that we’re going to play tomorrow.”

Slegers has been in charge of Arsenal since Jonas Eidevall’s resignation in October, overseeing five wins and one draw in all competitions and Emily Fox believes confidence is high in the team ahead of their meeting with Juve.

“Right now, we’re all very confident in each other and ourselves. And I think with the entire team, we feel together,” the Arsenal defender said.

“Each game has been very difficult and we’ve been learning from each and really finishing our chances and learning from the hiccups at the beginning of the season.

“I think with tomorrow, like Renee was saying, it’s another game, another challenge and I think we’re up for it.

“And I think with just the variety of games and opponents that we’ve played, it’s given us more confidence in the sense that we can deal with anything.”