Author: Lily White

Eveliina Summanen has signed a new contract with Tottenham Hotspur Women. The deal is described as “long-term” by the club.

The 27-year-old Finlad international said: “I’m happy here. I’ve found my place at Spurs, and I think it was natural to keep going on that journey. That’s why I’m excited to stay here, to see what we can build on. Hopefully [we can] achieve big things.”

Summanen has proved crucial for Martin Ho, building a formidable partnership alongside Drew Spence in the middle of the park. Commenting on the new deal, the Tottenham Hotspur Women’s boss said: “We are delighted that Eveliina has committed her future to the club. She has been a key part of our performances this season, bringing real control, intelligence and consistency to our midfield. Her technical quality in possession, ability to play forward under pressure and tactical understanding of the game give the team stability and direction, while her composure in duels and competitive mindset allow her to influence key moments both with and without the ball.

Ho added that believes that “Ev still has room to grow, and we see clear opportunities to continue developing the all-round impact she can have as she moves into the next phase of her career. Her behaviours every day, the way she trains, prepares and carries herself, and her professionalism and attitude are infectious within the environment.”

Eveliina Summanen’s Career so Far

Eveliina Summanen joined Spurs in from Swedish side Kristianstads DFF in January, 2022, playing 12 games that season. The following season, she netted five goals and provided six assists in 25 appearances. She recovered from injury in 2023 to feature in Spurs’s first ever appearance in the Women’s FA Cup Final. Last season, she made 19 appearances in all competitions, scoring twice. As said, she amongst those who have been revitalised under Martin Ho. 

The midfielder has played for her country since making her debut in 2017 against China. This includes featuring at Euro 2025. She is Spurs’ all-time leading assist-provider in the WSL and has played over 100 times for the club.

No doubt about it, last week’s defeat to Liverpool was catastrophic. It ended any aspirations Tottenham Hotspur Women had of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. This week, they travel to West Ham. It is crucial Martin Ho’s side prove that result was a blip, not the start of damaging downturn in form.

Everyone around Spurs that I have spoken to this week knows it was a disaster. In a pre-match pre-match press conference, Ho said that “if you’re looking at the course of the game and the standards we set ourselves, we were nowhere near where we needed to be in terms of with the ball and the attacking third. But defensively we were two or three yards off everything.”

I suspect it was not a very pleasant week in training for the group. 

Despite the defeat on Merseyside, with nine games to go, there are still things for Spurs to play for. Firstly, the club can regain the title of “best of the rest”. This would be significant progress after finishing second bottom last season. Secondly, they can still finish above someone in the “big four”. That would be a definitive sign of progress. Could they even beat Chelsea in the upcoming London derby? (Almost certainly not.)

The one thing Spurs have to do in order to achieve any of this is become more ruthless in attack. Just one shot on target against the side bottom of the league is unacceptable, especially given the quality of forward players in the team. Bethany England, Tinka Tandberg, Signe Gaupset, Olivia Holdt… goals really should not be a problem.

Analysing West Ham vs Spurs

Ho believes that new West Ham coach Rita Guarino has “given them definitely a lot more organisation and stability.” Analysis from Twelve Football’s Earpiece tool shows that West Ham have are, at best, average defensively. The trendline is not pretty, but they were solid against weaker sides Liverpool and Leicester.

Perhaps more encouragingly for Spurs, the Hammers really struggle at the other end of the pitch, they tend to rely on long balls and play with a slower tempo then others in the league.

It is also fair to say, their form is somewhat erratic. 

This should all give the visitors confidence heading in to the game. But we said that last week, didn’t we…

Just because Liverpool scored in the the 94th and 95th minutes, that does not Spurs were unlucky. They were not robbed of a hard-fought away point. This was an atrocious performance long before Mia Enderby scored. It was by far the worst, and most inexcusable, showing since Martin Ho took over and revitalised the team.

Tottenham could have been behind from as early as the second minute, as Auriéle Csillag hit the bar. She went on to have other chances, demanding saves from Lize Kop. It was Ceri Holland who was the real danger, though. Josefine Rybrink simply could not stop her, and there is a strong case that Ho should have replaced his fullback.

Spurs’ only good chance was spurned by Signe Gaupset, put clean through on goal. The only players who return to north London with any credit are Drew Spence and Bethany England. The former has been one of the team’s best performers this season and again worked gallantly to get things going from midfield. The latter tried to lead from the front, but found herself having to do far too much defensive work. She only really had one decent chance – a difficult header at goal that cause ultimately little trouble. 

Ho had a face like thunder at the end. It said everything. The away loss to London City Lionesses earlier in the season was frustrating. Sunday was unforgivable.

Failure to Hurt Opponents

Data generated using Twelve Football’s Earpiece tool underlines the issues with the Tottenham performance. Almost every facet of their game was worse than the average for the season. Interestingly, they had 54% possession and their overall attacking play was better than the season avearge. However, they struggled to make clear cut chances, ending with just one shot on target and an xG of 0.9.

At the other end of the pitch, Liverpool were able to get into the area and had 16 shots. Six of these were on target, leaving them with an xG of 3.26 and, more importantly, their first win of the season.

Spurs Must Bounce Back After Liverpool Disaster

We cannot dismiss the progress that has been made in a short period of time, nor how hard it is to bring a number of new players all at the same time. However, this was a game that really had to be won if Tottenham had any aspirations of being in the Champions League next season. That dream is done now, with both Man Utd and Arsenal pulling away.

The key question now is whether Ho and his players can learn from the mistakes and get back to winning ways against West Ham. They need to show that the defeat to Liverpool was a blip, not the start of a season derailing.