Slegers admits psychological block behind Arsenal's scoring struggles after Caldentey penalty rescues Champions League opener

Mariona Caldentey’s stoppage-time penalty earned Arsenal a hard-fought 1-0 victory over HB Koge at Meadow Park on Wednesday, opening their Women’s Champions League campaign with three points that flattered neither the performance nor the scoreline.

It was only the third goal Arsenal have managed across all competitions this season, following two strikes from their first three Women’s Super League matches. Despite dominating possession against the Danish side, the Gunners repeatedly failed to convert their chances before substitute Selina Cerci won a penalty deep into added time and Caldentey buried it in the bottom corner.

“It was a mentality, resilience win today,” said manager Renee Slegers. “The football didn’t give us the win. It’s again in front of the goal, but we get the goal as a squad. Similar to last weekend, we get a late, late goal, and that’s good for us — it’s something we want to take into the season.”

Slegers had turned to her bench after half-time, introducing Cerci and Caldentey as Arsenal searched for a breakthrough, and the late intervention proved decisive. Yet the pattern of misfiring in front of goal is becoming a concern, and the Arsenal head coach did not shy away from the question when pressed on its root cause.

She pointed to “simplicity and basics” as the primary issue but conceded there could be something deeper at play. “We said after the game, ‘We’re going through this together here now, and we’ll come out of it stronger as a collective’,” Slegers added. “The most positive thing is that we stayed in it, showed resilience, mentality, and got the goal in the end. Don’t want to overanalyse and overcomplicate things — keep things simple moving forward.”

Arsenal now face a demanding run of fixtures that will test whether the mental barriers Slegers identified can be dismantled quickly. The Gunners travel to Chelsea in the WSL on Sunday before a Champions League away trip to Paris FC, and then face defending WSL champions Manchester City ahead of the international break.