Arsenal get back on track in WSL after Olislagers own goal scuppers Brighton

There was a collective deep sigh of relief around the Emirates Stadium at the end of 13 minutes of added time, Arsenal’s four-game winless run ended with a win against Brighton.

It wasn’t the most convincing of performances from the Gunners, a lack of any real clinical edge in the final third still a major concern, but attention will not be on Brighton or Arsenal’s footballing woes, but the worrying head injury of the Brighton full-back Maelys Mpomé, who exited on a stretcher and with an oxygen mask after 10 minutes of treatment on the pitch.

A ball to the face sent Mpomé to the floor shortly after the hour mark and the football felt a little trivial after. The show goes on though, and the win alleviates some growing pressure on the Arsenal manager Renée Slegers.

It has seemed a little cruel to suggest the heat has been turned up a little on the manager that delivered Arsenal’s second European title in her first season in charge having only had her temporary role made permanent in January. There was a lot of leeway earned with that historic triumph and blistering campaign that unfolded once Slegers replaced Jonas Eidevall in October 2024.

However, with four games without a win – two draws and a defeat in the WSL and a loss by Lyon in their Champions League opener – there was little doubt coming into the game against Brighton that Slegers is facing the biggest test of her Arsenal tenure, to date. That may feel like an exaggeration, given the Champions League final was a pretty major hurdle, as were many games in the run-up to that night in Lisbon, but expectations were low then, every win was a thrilling step on a journey no one was quite expecting.

Now, Arsenal’s pedigree is high, there was investment in the summer, Olivia Smith becoming the world’s first £1m player , and they returned for the new season with five club and country European champions following England’s triumph at the Euros. The frustrations have increased as the hope has dissipated.

Putting your finger on exactly what isn’t quite working isn’t easy. The ingredients for success are there. Arsenal weren’t terrible against OL Lyonnes in the Champions League on Tuesday night either, scoring first before the French side came back and took control.

There just seems to be a lack of bite to Slegers’ side this term, a lack of ruthlessness, and a manager doesn’t seem to have entirely settled on her preferred starting XI.

There were three changes to the midweek team, with Taylor Hinds, Chloe Kelly and Beth Mead, who provided an electric assist for Alessia Russo against OL Lyonnes, swapped out for Katie McCabe, Smith and Caitlin Foord.

It was Smith that helped break the deadlock at the Emirates Stadium, her effort taking a deflection off Marisa Olislagers that wrongfooted the goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie for an own goal.

Dario Vidosic faced a different challenge personnel wise going into the game against Arsenal as they bid to get back to winning ways after a lost by Tottenham in the league and midweek defeat to West Ham in the League Cup, with loanees Rosa Kafaji and Michelle Agyemang ineligible to play against their parent club.

Arsenal dominated possession in N5, but Brighton seemed content with that and amassed five shots on target to Arsenal’s four, despite eight touches in the opposition box to 40. Carla Camacho put the ball wide, Kiko Seike tested Daphne van Domselaar at the near post and Fran Kirby’s looped chip was cleared before it reached the line.

The shadow of the Aston Villa game, in which Arsenal dominated but failed to build on a 1-0 lead and conceded late on, loomed large as the clock ticked on with the game still finely poised.

There was a concerning 10-minute pause in play just past the hour mark, with fullback Mpomé receiving lengthy treatment. The former Chelsea player was carried off on a stretcher in a neck brace and on oxygen, fans standing and applauding in a show of support as she exited the pitch.

The game was, understandably, a little flatter after Mpomé’s injury, but the substitute Stina Blackstenius’s header grazed the top of the crossbar to reinject some energy back into the subdued crowd as Arsenal’s bench looked to force another and make the lead a little more comfortable. It didn’t come, and they held on, but there is still work to do.

Header image: [Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images]