It’s been a big week for Spurs. Olivia Holdt agreed new a long-term contract at the club, followed by Matilda Vinberg . Then, ahead of Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur in the WSL, manager Martin Ho did the same. Can his side round off a hugely positive few days with a historic victory?
Ho said he is “really proud to extend my time at Tottenham Hotspur,” and that “we want to be a team that plays with intensity, clarity and personality, and an environment where people are developed, supported and accountable. There has been progress, but we know there is much more to come.” The Emirates would be a could place start getting to that next level!
Spurs’s Big Four Failings
Anyone reading this knows the drill. Spurs don’t beat the “big four”. They have just one WSL victory against Arsenal. That’s it. However, a resolute display in the reverse fixture at Brisbane Road provides some hope. In that game, Tottenham at least showed they could compete with Arsenal physically.
However, recent performances have been poor. The defeat to Everton particularly frustrating.
The visitors have had almost a full week to recover from their hammering at the hands of Man City (again). The Gunners, meanwhile, had a tough Champions League fixture against Chelsea on Tuesday. In her press conference ahead of the game, I asked boss Renée Slegers whether that was a disadvantage for Arsenal. She said: “We love to be in this rhythm of playing games. It’s a rhythm that we like, the short turnarounds. We get to work towards the next game. We have a great big squad. We have players ready to go.”
Slegers also said that Spurs are “very good at dribbling with the ball, so that’s also going to be a very important part of the game and how we’re going to manage that”.
Arsenal vs Spurs Women Analysis: Gunner’s Attack Prowess
TwelveFootball’s Earpiece tool demonstrates that the hosts are particularly good at chance creation. This is based a lot on short, sharp passing. They rarely use long balls or even crosses, tending to carry the ball into their opponents box.
Defensively, Sleger’s gets her team to win the ball high up the pitch. You might also notice the slightly above average percentage of fouls they gave away in the attacking half…
In their last encounter, Spurs gave up control of midfield in order to stop Arsenal scoring. The graph below shows they dropped back and played with lower intensity. It was not pretty, but it worked.
Sleger’s said her side “also didn’t have our best performance,” in that game. She suggested they will be better now. Maybe. But Spurs certainly found a way to frustrate them.
Defenders Return For Tottenham
Toko Koga and Maika Hamano are back for Spurs after their Asian Cup victory. The former’s return is particularly important, as the Lilywhites have looked vulnerable at the back without her. Unfortunately, defensive partner Clare Hunt is out injured. However. Ella Morris is back in contention to be in the squad. A huge boost.
Interestingly, Ho seemed to take some positives from last week’s 5-2 defeat. “If you look at the second half, we even had moments in the first half, but the statistics don’t lie, we were miles ahead of them in the second half,” he said. His side was 5-1 down by the break, though, so City might be forgiven for taking it a bit easy.
Despite the back-to-back defeats, Ho said: “We’re in a really good space as a team, we’re performing at a good level I feel, the odd performance in part of games hasn’t been great and I’m the first to acknowledge that and take responsibility for that, but we need to make sure now we consistently perform and that’s probably the part we need to get back to.”
A packed Emirates, with close to 50,000 people set to be in attendance, is a challenging environment in which to do that.
Arsenal vs Tottenham Women Team News
Arsenal: Daphne van Domselaar, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Steph Catley, Maria Caldentey, Kim Little (C), Firda Maanmum, Olvia Smith, Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo, Smilla Holmberg
Subs: Barbora Votikova, Anneke Borbe, Emily Fox, Laia Codina, Caitlin Foord, Victoria Pelova, Taylor Hinds, Stina Blackstenius
Spurs: Lize Kop, Molly Bartrip, Amanda Nilden, Signe Gaupset, Olivia Holdt, Matilda Vinberg, Cathinka Tandberg, Hanna Wijk, Maika Mamano, Drew Spence, Toko Koga
Subs: Eleanor Heeps, Bethany England, Josefine Rybrink, Matilda Nilden, Lenna Gunning-Williams, Olga Ahtinen, Eveliina Summanen, Araya Dennis, Julie Blakstad
How to Watch Arsenal vs Tottenham Women in the WSL
Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur Women kicks off at 5.30pm GMT/1.30pm ET on Saturday, 28 March. You can watch it on Sky Sports/NOW in the UK and on ESPN Select/FUBO in the US. If you’re away, you can still access your usual services by using a VPN. I use NordVPN.