Leah Williamson was among the scorers as Arsenal beat Crystal Palace in the Women’s Super League [JayPatel/SPP]

AWAY days don’t come much bigger than a trip to Stamford Bridge to tackle Chelsea in a tense must-win – or, at the very least – must-not-lose London derby.

That’s what Arsenal are facing this Sunday when they take on the Blues in front of a bumper crowd in west London. Renée Slegers’ side head into the lunchtime kick-off seven points behind the Barclays Women’s Super League leaders. They certainly can’t afford to let that gap increase to 10 points if they are to have any realistic chance of winning the title.

The Gunners go west brimming with confidence after toasting Slegers’ appointment as permanent boss by thumping Crystal Palace on Sunday at Meadow Park in their opening match of 2025.

The 35-year-old Dutchwoman led the club to 10 wins and a draw during an impressive spell as interim manager after being put in temporary charge when Jonas Eidevall resigned in October.

And that blistering form continued at the weekend when goals from Leah Williamson, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and a Mariona Caldentey brace saw the Gunners wrap up a resounding 5-0 win against a Palace squad sitting at the bottom of the WSL table.

Renée Slegers [JayPatel/SPP]

Insisting that it’s still business as usual now she has the job full-time, Slegers, who has signed a contract through to the end of the 2025/26 season, said: “Not much has changed. I tried not to change. The only thing, obviously, is the fact that you work a little bit more long-term. So there are processes that we’ve started in the background. But I want to be in the moment. I want to be with the players, with the staff, because I think that’s where we make the most impact. So I’ll stay exactly the same.”

There’s clearly a buzz in the dressing room now the players know who’s boss. “We’re really happy,” said Russo, who has scored 11 goals in 12 games since Slegers took charge. “Obviously she stepped up when we needed her and we’ve built on those 11 games before Christmas. We’ve been learning lots of different stuff, implementing little new bits. She’s been great and now we’ve got that stability going forward so we’re really excited as a team.”

Spurs start 2025 with a win

It might not have been pretty, but Tottenham bagged the precious points on Sunday when they returned to WSL action for the first time in nearly five weeks.

A fourth-minute own goal by Janina Leitzig was enough to earn Spurs a hard-fought 1-0 win over Leicester City at Brisbane Road, moving them up to sixth in the table.

“This was so important for us, to get the three points,” defender Amanda Nilden told the club’s official website. “We have not played a game for a long time so, three points in a game like this – it’s not beautiful, but three points is always three points so we’re very happy with that.”

Tottenham will be favourites to pick up another victory this weekend when they go to Crystal Palace.

Snap up tickets

Over 40,000 tickets have already been sold for the north London derby, which takes place at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, February 16, at 12.30pm. So far it’s one-nil to the Arsenal after they toppled Spurs 3-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November. With another pulsating showdown on the cards, supporters are being urged to snap up their seats now. Tickets start at £16 for adults and £8 for juniors.

Visit www.arsenal.com