Renee Slegers has been appointed as Arsenal's head coach on a permanent basis after an impressive period as interim head coach.

Slegers, who has signed a one-and-a-half-year contract, took interim charge of the Gunners after Jonas Eidevall's departure in October, following a poor start to the Women's Super League campaign.

However, Arsenal are now back in the title hunt as they sit third in the WSL table, six points behind Chelsea after Slegers oversaw an unbeaten start in the competition, winning five and drawing one of her six games before the winter break. In that time, Arsenal scored 16 goals and conceded just once.

In all competitions, Slegers is still yet to lose (W10 D1) as she boasts a 90.91%-win rate. She has also guided Arsenal into the quarter-finals of the Champions League as group winners after five consecutive victories.

"I'm so excited to be continuing our journey together," said Slegers.

"It's a wonderful honour to represent this club as head coach and I have so much belief in what we can all achieve together.

"Over the past few months, I've felt such a powerful sense of collective ownership and responsibility across our players and staff - that has been our strength and I know we will make sure we drive and nurture this feeling as we all move forward.

"It has meant the world to me to feel the closeness and passion of our supporters during this process, and I want to thank you all for that.

"We want to deliver something beautiful that's inspiring and leads to winning trophies. We all have a big part to play in achieving that."

Slegers' first game as Arsenal's permanent head coach will come against Crystal Palace in the WSL on Sunday.