Slegers refuses to rule Arsenal fully out of WSL title race despite Chelsea loss
Arsenal boss Renee Slegers has said that her side has a "much bigger mountain to climb" in the WSL title race after defeat at Chelsea.
Renee Slegers has refused to rule her Arsenal side out of the Women's Super League title race despite a 1-0 defeat to leaders Chelsea on Sunday.
Guro Reiten scored an 84th-minute penalty after Kim Little brought down Lauren James inside the box as the defending champions moved 10 points clear of Arsenal, who then slipped down the table to fourth after Manchester United's win later in the day.
The Gunners are currently given just a 0.3% chance of winning the WSL title, facing a mammoth task if they want to beat Chelsea, who are given a 98.8% chance of retaining the title, according to the Opta supercomputer.
"Well, of course, there are 10 points now between us, and that's going to be a much bigger mountain to climb," said Slegers, who was named head coach on a permanent basis this month after an impressive interim spell.
"We are very aware of that, but we also say, we had our slips at the start of the season. You never know when other teams are going to slip.
"So what we want to do is just keep on playing our games and winning our games, and that's all we can do."
The Gunners had put on a brave fight against the hosts at Stamford Bridge, but the penalty followed by a red card to Katie McCabe in the final 10 minutes undid their hard work.
"We knew it was important for us if we wanted to keep sparks in the title race to win, and we didn't do that. But yeah, you never know what the future holds again," Slegers said.
Sonia Bompastor's Chelsea remain unbeaten in the league with 11 wins and a draw from 12 matches this season.
Arsenal also headed into Sunday's game unbeaten under Slegers, since she replaced Jonas Eidevall, who resigned in October.
But the defeat to the leaders ended Arsenal's seven-game unbeaten streak, and they sit fourth in the table, behind United and Manchester City.
"I'm very happy with the run so far, not having lost the game. I think that says something about where we're at as a team," said the former Netherlands international.
"I just think we played against a top team, we played a very tight game, and it was going to go one way or the other. It could have been a 0-0 game as well or a 1-1 game. So I think we have a strong enough foundation.
"I feel that, and I think the players feel that as well. This happened, but that doesn't define us. Of course, I'm very disappointed. I wanted to win, and I think we were close enough to get something out of the game, but then we will have to move on from here."
Arsenal next have an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Bristol City on Wednesday before they visit Manchester City, who sit one point above them, in the WSL on Sunday.