Stina Blackstenius’ brace helped Arsenal Women to a 4-1 win over Leicester last weekend, and head coach Renee Slegers was full of praise for the Gunners’ striker ahead of their crucial meeting with Chelsea.

The 29-year-old played with her now-manager for Linkoping in Sweden, and scored the winning goal for Arsenal in last season’s Champions League final.

“She's been so good,” Slegers told the Gooner Fanzine. “She's also a player that's always thinking about her own growth and what she can contribute with. I've played with Stina. She was 16, we played together in Linkoping. 

“It's so impressive to see where she comes from and where she is now. I've seen her journey. I haven't been part of the journey all the way, but I've seen the starting point and I see where she is now. It's so impressive. 

“I think she's grown so much as a person, I think she's very self-aware. She knows her strengths, she connects really well with people and she's a very professional athlete. I'm just very impressed with where she's at now at this stage of her career. 

“Me and Stina have had a couple of conversations and she's grown so much, but this is definitely not the end point for her. I’ve seen especially in the last six months, she's grown and she becomes better and better and more mature and more complete as a person as well. I think this is going to help her on the pitch as well, so I think she's only going to get better.”

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Asked by the Gooner how she has found managing a former teammate, Slegers said: “It's such a long time ago! I was active with the Swedish national team before I came to Arsenal as well, so I've always stayed close to her. 

“There have been occasions where I've worked with her or against her when I was coaching in the league in Sweden after my playing career. She played at BK Hacken at the time and I was coaching Rosengard. 

“It was funny because I played with Stina and I saw the impact that she could have when you're in the same team as Stina. And then then all of a sudden I had to go coach against her and I was like, "S***, how do you deal with this?’ 

“So that was always a big part of the game plan with Rosengard playing against Hacken. So I know what it's like for the opposition to play against Stina and it's great to be on her side again to represent the same club again.”