Renée Slegers might just have unlocked Smilla Holmberg's potential in Leicester demolition

As we enter May, will it be a successful conclusion to this season for Arsenal? On Wednesday night, Renée Slegers heavily rotated her team, but they were still far too strong for the WSL's bottom side Leicester, cruising to a 7-0 victory at home. Frida Maanum, Mariona Caldentey and Leah Williamson all on target, while Swedish duo Smilla Holmberg and Stina Blackstenius both netted twice.

This clash came in-between the Gunners' two-legged Champions League semi-final against Lyon, hence why Slegers left plenty of her stars in reserve. Nevertheless, did this help her unearth a new role for a new player?

With Beth Mead, Chloe Kelly, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Michelle Agyemang all unavailable, Slegers was slightly short of attacking depth. Olivia Smith and Blackstenius did therefore keep their places from the weekend, but Holmberg was deployed further forward than usual, ahead of Emily Fox on the right-wing. Well, the teenager certainly shone higher up, scoring twice either side of half time.

As well as her two goals, Holmberg had a productive night.

Smilla Holmberg's statistics vs Leicester City

Note: All statistics courtesy of SofaScore.

As noted by Opta, at the age of 19 years and 200 days, Holmberg became the second-youngest player in WSL history to be directly involved in three goals in a single match. Only Georgia Stanway, 17 years old at the time, has done so at a younger age, bagging a hat-trick for Manchester City against Sunderland a decade ago.

The 19 year old's statistics more broadly make for great reading. She scored twice, bagged an assist, had four shots on target, created two big chances and put in 15 crosses. For comparison, Katie McCabe, Smith and Caitlin Foord attempted the joint-second most crosses with three. All if this led to her being named player of the match. Thus, Holmberg was central to Arsenal's dominant dismantling of the WSL's bottom side, so could this be a role in which she shines going forward?

Since arriving from Hammarby in January, she has made 14 appearances for the Gunners, albeit this was only her fourth start, also in the XI against West Ham, the FA Cup defeat to Brighton and the second leg against Oud-Heverlee Leuven when they were already 4-0 up. She is very much a right-back by trade, accumulating 13 Sweden caps in that position already, including starting and scoring against Germany at Letzigrund during last summer's Euros there. Nevertheless, she clearly has attacking tendencies, so could thrive further forward?

Speaking after the match, Holmberg said "there's no big games at Arsenal, every game is a big game", a winning mentality that resonates with fans, also describing the win and her own performance as "fun". The youngster is clearly loving her football right now, and there will be plenty more opportunties for her this month.

As Slegers' side play catch up, after Saturday's second leg in Lyon, they'll face four WSL games in just ten days to close out the campaign. Thus, Holmberg will see plenty of minutes, with her outstanding display against Leicester suggesting she has to be considered at both right-back but also in attack.

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