{"id":500864,"date":"2026-03-28T23:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/500864\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T23:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:05:07","slug":"alessia-russos-rapid-fire-hat-trick-sinks-tottenham-and-sends-arsenal-second-in-wsl-womens-super-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/500864\/","title":{"rendered":"Alessia Russo\u2019s rapid fire hat-trick sinks Tottenham and sends Arsenal second in WSL | Women’s Super League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal secured their 11th consecutive victory in all competitions with a confident win against Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening. Alessia Russo<\/a> scored a 22-minute hat-trick to put her side in firm control while Caitlin Foord and Stina Blackstenius added more in the second half.<\/p>\n

It was a devastating first-half performance from Russo. Her three in the latest edition of the north London derby took her tally to five in the last eight days, a week in which Arsenal extended their unbeaten run in all competitions.<\/p>\n

It is the latest evidence of the impressive form the England international has been enjoying this season despite oscillating between the 9 and 10 roles. She has 25 goal contributions in 31 games and has now moved to fourth in the Women\u2019s Super League scoring charts.<\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9e Slegers labelled her \u201ca complete footballer\u201d and was full of praise for the 27-year-old. \u201cShe\u2019s one of the best finishers I\u2019ve seen and there are so many other things to her game,\u201d the Arsenal head coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to create an environment where players and people can grow and Alessia is definitely doing that. She takes a lot of ownership. She\u2019s very reflective. She works closest with Kelly Smith [former Arsenal forward and current assistant coach] so they talk through the detail and have a lot of conversations about mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading the line on this occasion, she proved a nightmare for the Spurs defence who were unable to handle her aerial ability or direct running.<\/p>\n

It was the second time in as many matches that Tottenham have suffered from a slow start and their manager, Martin Ho, had talked about the need to not give their opposition \u201c45 minutes of free football\u201d. It will have been frustrating, therefore, to watch his side concede twice in the opening 10.<\/p>\n

In defeat to Manchester City the previous week, Spurs had struggled to defend their box in the air. Despite the return of Japan centre-back Toko Koga, it took just five minutes for that specific weakness to come to the fore. Russo got the better of her marker Hanna Wijk as a Katie McCabe delivery came in, then stooped low to nod the ball home.<\/p>\n

Alessia Russo\u2019s first goal showed her aerial power, her second her technical quality and her third was a gift from Tottenham keeper Lize Kop. Photograph: Mark Leech\/Offside\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Before the visitors had time to draw breath, Arsenal doubled their lead when Olivia Smith found the run of Russo. The forward coolly rounded Lize Kop before dispatching an angled effort into the net.<\/p>\n

Spurs thought they had pulled themselves back into the contest when an unfortunate Frida Leonhardsen Maanum turned a corner into her own net. Their joy was short-lived, however, when Russo charged down Kop\u2019s clearing pass to restore Arsenal\u2019s two-goal lead going into the break.<\/p>\n

Fixing the small details will be at the forefront of Ho\u2019s mind as Spurs look to end a run of three successive defeats. He will, therefore, have taken positives from a stronger second half performance, a theme of their campaign so far.<\/p>\n

Slegers, meanwhile, began to ring the changes, presumably with one eye on the second leg of their Women\u2019s Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Foord marked her return from the Women\u2019s Asia Cup with a goal, and Stina Blackstenius scored her third in four games. Photograph: Izzy Poles\/AMA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Just as Spurs were starting to find a foothold, however, Arsenal extended their lead when Smilla Holmberg produced a dangerous delivery that found Foord at the far post. The Australian\u2019s first touch took her away from Wijk and afforded her the space to rifle an effort home, an immediate impact after returning from the Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

The introduction of Bethany England late on injected more impetus into the visitors\u2019 attack. On her 200th WSL appearance, the Spurs captain hit the post with her first touch before scoring her seventh of the campaign to narrow the deficit.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideLiverpool survive red card and late Everton surgeShow<\/p>\n

Liverpool took the spoils in the Merseyside derby with a 3-2 win at Goodison Park after Everton threatened to come back from three goals down. Grace Fisk’s 66th-minute red card, shortly after Everton had pulled it back to 3-1, made it a nervy finish for Liverpool, who move eight points clear of last place.<\/p>\n

Ceri Holland gave Liverpool the lead from the penalty spot after Fisk’s shot was blocked by the hand of Inma Gabarro. They doubled their advantage a few minutes later when Alejandra Bernab\u00e9’s cross from the left was headed into her own net by Martina Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n

Holland added a third before half-time when she was allowed to carry the ball into the area and find the top corner in front of the sizeable away support.<\/p>\n

Everton’s comeback began just after the hour mark when Aurora Galli’s free-kick deflected off Fisk’s shoulder and wrong-footed Jennifer Falk in goal. From the restart, Everton’s Zara Kramzar charged into Fisk off the ball and the defender reacted by cynically tripping up her opponent, earning her a second yellow card.<\/p>\n

After a spell of sustained pressure Galli picked out Kramzar, who reduced Liverpool’s lead to just one in added time. Ruby Mace had one final chance to equalise for Everton but could not find the target from inside the area.<\/p>\n

Everton stay sixth in the WSL table while Liverpool in 10th close the gap to their local rivals to three points and revenge the 4-1 defeat they suffered at Anfield on the opening weekend of the season. Billy Munday<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Despite their improvement, Spurs were vulnerable on the break as exemplified by Blackstenius\u2019s finish deep into injury time. It was a win that took Arsenal up to second in the table, level with Manchester United but with two games in hand, and in control of their own destiny in the race for automatic qualification for the Champions League group stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal secured their 11th consecutive victory in all competitions with a confident win against Tottenham at the Emirates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-500864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}