Smith 'couldn't ask' for better Arsenal debut

Olivia Smith was thrilled with her dream debut for Arsenal and promised there is more to come from her first season in north London.

Arsenal won their Women's Super League opener 4-1 against the London City Lionesses, with Smith scoring a stunning long-range effort to lead the comeback after Kosovare Asllani had given London City the lead.

Chloe Kelly, Stina Blackstenius and Frida Maanum added the other three goals, ensuring Arsenal went top of the early standings ahead of the rest of the weekend's games on Sunday.

Smith, who joined Arsenal for a reported £1m fee from Liverpool in the transfer window, had the joint-most shots (four) and efforts on target (two), while only Beth Mead (10) had more touches than her in the opposition box (nine).

And Smith could not have hoped for a better introduction to the Emirates.

"Honestly, I couldn't ask for a better way to start," said Smith. "I think with the support of my team-mates, the staff, and the fans, it made it so much sweeter. So, it was a great, great game.

"It was definitely an unreal atmosphere and something I've never felt before. So, for me, to score a goal like that and to rile up the whole crowd, it was amazing.

"The feeling of being so creative on the pitch with other creative players – it's an unreal feeling. And I think you can see on the pitch that it was just fun for us. We had the time of our lives, and we came up with a great result.

"I think this was just a glimpse. First game, many more to go. So, I'm definitely looking at going up from here."

Despite a slow start from Arsenal, they eventually found their rhythm at the Emirates. They accumulated 1.9 expected goals (xG) from 20 shots compared to the Lionesses' 0.9 from five attempts.

They were helped by Mead's introduction late on, as she got two assists, with the opening assist seeing her become the first player in WSL history to set up 50 goals.

Slegers, who has now won her first nine home games in charge, was proud of how her side responded to the early setback.

"I think we struggled at the start of the game, so we had a slower start, but we always said this was going to be a hard game, the way they play, and there's a big unknown playing against them because they've built a whole new team," Slegers told BBC Sport.

"At the end of the day, they get a penalty, which is a penalty, but what I'm really proud of is that we grew into the game, again find our rhythm, we're persistent, we find out solutions, and we totally deserve the win.

"I think we did some really good things, but they happened later in the game. Also, the impact the players that came on made in the second half is amazing, so it's a real team performance.

"I think yes, you've seen things we want to keep doing, but there's things we want to improve."