It wasn’t so long ago that Arsenal put five goals past Lyon on French soil.
Playing under Jonas Eidevall – before Slegers had joined as his assistant manager – the Gunners outclassed the reigning champions in the group stage in 2022.
Caitlin Foord, Frida Maanum and Beth Mead, who all started for Slegers on Saturday, were on the scoresheet.
But Arsenal lacked that ruthlessness against Lyon last Saturday, with Mead, Maanum, Foord and Alessia Russo missing multiple chances.
“Arsenal showed enough in this first leg to take confidence,” ex-England defender Anita Asante told the Football News Show.
“They really dominated the ball, they had control in the final third, created a number of chances and they just missed some of that cutting edge.”
Kadidiatou Diani beat Arsenal’s offside trap to get behind their defence and she made no mistake with a crisp finish for a 17th-minute opener.
And just as the hosts had pulled level through Mariona Caldentey’s spot-kick, Lyon split their backline open with Ada Hegerberg pulling Leah Williamson out of position to open up space for Melchie Dumornay, who darted into the box and lifted the ball over Manuela Zinsberger.
“Lyon under Joe Montemurro are not afraid to not have the ball. They get the goals they need, sit back and don’t seek to dominate necessarily,” Asante added.
“They’re a team that will play in transition and their players, especially in that front three, are all really dynamic and can play into space, carry the ball or threat in the box.
“I don’t think it suits Arsenal necessarily to play on the counter. They will probably assess the first 10-15 minutes of the game and adapt from there.”
Despite their first-leg defeat, Beattie does not expect Arsenal to play “very differently”.
“I think they got the press wrong once and Diani scored. I can’t think of many other times where Lyon played through from a goal kick,” she said.
“I think the Arsenal press was very, very good and if they do that again, they can go and get a result.”
Slegers said Arsenal must be wary of “a lot of threats”, but that her side have the ability to “expose” Lyon.
“We’re super humble for the task because they probably have the next level in them – but so do we,” she said.
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