Football Apr 01, 2026

Arsenal Women 5-2 Tottenham Women: Alessia Russo hat-trick keeps Gunners in Women's Super League title fight

👤
By Admin
Sports Journalist
Arsenal Women 5-2 Tottenham Women: Alessia Russo hat-trick keeps Gunners in Women's Super League title fight

Alessia Russo's first-half hat-trick helped Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 5-2 in the north London derby to keep alive their Women's Super League title hopes.

Renee Slegers' side needed to respond after Man City had breezed to victory in the Manchester derby earlier in the day and they did thanks to Russo's first treble for the club as the Gunners stayed 11 points behind the leaders with two games in hand.

The England striker opened her tally with a powerful fifth-minute header after being picked out from Katie McCabe's corner, before minutes later latching on to Olivia Smith's pass, rounding the onrushing Lize Kop and slotting the ball home from a tight angle.

Having got themselves back into the game thanks to Frida Maanum's own goal - the visitors' first-ever goal at the Emirates - Spurs then gifted their neighbours a third when Kop passed the ball straight to Russo, who gratefully accepted the present for her hat-trick goal before the half-hour mark.

Russo had eight first-half shots, the joint-most by any player in a WSL game this season, although it was Caitlin Foord who added a fourth just past the hour mark with a thunderous strike into the top corner.

Substitute Bethany England's sweet strike did give Spurs hope on her 200th WSL appearance, only for Stina Blackstenius to come off the bench to poach a fifth for the Gunners in injury-time to send most of the 46,123 fans in attendance home happy.

The comprehensive display extended Arsenal's winning run to 11 matches in all competitions, while it was also a record-extending 17th straight home victory in the WSL, including over Man City and Chelsea, to just about keep them in the title race.

Arsenal hat-trick hero Alessia Russo on Your Site:

"It feels really nice. I love to score goals as much as I can and to do it here at the Emirates in a north London derby is really nice. It's a good three points moving on to the rest of the season.

"The first one, it's a great ball in from Katie. We work on set-pieces all the time and it's nice when one comes off.

"We practise one-v-one finishing all the time in training, so it is about decision-making and using the goalkeeper to make your mind up. As soon as she came out I knew I was going to take it around her.

"Then the third one, again something that we do a lot is high pressure and making that count."

Arsenal boss Renee Slegers on Your Site:

"She's [Russo] now also part of the captain's group at Arsenal. I think she's always herself, wanting to bring her best version, very humble.

"She's lovely to work with, very respectful to anyone she works with or passes by. But you can see she's stepping up and you see moments in training as well where she's instructing more, communicating more, driving the team more.

"Also, she's more vocal and that's really good. She's definitely developing that and we love to see it because she's a great person and she has so much intelligence as well as a footballer."

Arsenal's Caitlin Foord on Your Site:

"We created a lot of chances and put the ball in the back of the net a couple of times, Less [Alessia Russo] getting a hat-trick. We are building our momentum and the girls have been in good form. We wanted to continue that and we did that.

"I was super pleased to get into the game, get that last game out of the way now to move on, and to put the ball in the back of the net again. I'm always pleased about that because I like doing my part for the team.

"The girls have been great since I've been away [at the Asia Cup]. They have scored lots of goals and got lots of wins so it was exciting to watch from all the way on the other side of the world.

"Our next game is massive. Obviously we're up, but it's always a tough game against Chelsea. We know we have to be at our best to get to the next stage."

Tags:

football report

Share this article

Related Posts

England vs Uruguay: Thomas Tuchel to test options as questions linger on what Three Lions do without Harry Kane

England vs Uruguay: Thomas Tuchel to test options as questions linger on what Three Lions do without Harry Kane

On this day 11 years ago, Harry Kane came on as a substitute for Wayne Rooney at Wembley to make his England debut against Lithuania. Eighty seconds l...

Wales 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina AET (Bosnia win 2-4 on pens): Craig Bellamy's side's 2026 World Cup dreams ended

Wales 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina AET (Bosnia win 2-4 on pens): Craig Bellamy's side's 2026 World Cup dreams ended

Wales suffered a penalty shoot-out defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Cardiff to end their 2026 World Cup dreams.Brennan Johnson and Neco Williams bo...

Sandro Tonali transfer news: Man Utd expected to make formal approach for Newcastle midfielder - Paper talk and football transfer gossip

Sandro Tonali transfer news: Man Utd expected to make formal approach for Newcastle midfielder - Paper talk and football transfer gossip

The top stories and transfer rumours from Friday's newspapers...Manchester United are expected to make a formal approach to Newcastle for Sandro Tonal...

Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres scores hat-trick as Sweden book World Cup play-off final against Robert Lewandowski's Poland

Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres scores hat-trick as Sweden book World Cup play-off final against Robert Lewandowski's Poland

Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick as Sweden beat Ukraine 3-1 to book a World Cup play-off final against Poland.Gyokeres, who started up fro...

Sammie Szmodics: Republic of Ireland forward released from hospital after collision in World Cup play-off

Sammie Szmodics: Republic of Ireland forward released from hospital after collision in World Cup play-off

Republic of Ireland forward Sammie Szmodics has been released from hospital in Prague after being knocked unconscious during Thursday's World Cup play...

Wales reporter notebook: World Cup dreams are over but what next for Craig Bellamy and his exciting brand of football?

Wales reporter notebook: World Cup dreams are over but what next for Craig Bellamy and his exciting brand of football?

It wasn't supposed to end that way. Wales were certainly confident they would progress to Tuesday's World Cup play-off final and most were predicting...