I’ve decided to my coverage of Spurs Women just that little bit more seriously! That means, more analysis and more stories.
The focus of Lily White, as the name suggests, remains on Spurs Women. However, I do occasionally mouth off about the ment too. (Who would want to focus on the men right now, though, really?!)
Bethany England joined Tottenham Hotspur Women from Chelsea on 3rd January, 2023 for a then tranfer record fee of £250,000. At that point, her new club were perilously close to the drop. She scored on debut against Aston Villa 11 days later, but couldn’t stop the rot, as the team went on to suffer a fifth successive defeat.
Things did eventually turn a corner. England scored 12 goals in 12 appearances, saving her new side from relegation. That includes the goal against Leicester City that mathematically confirmed safety. England’s off-field presence was just as important as her goals on the pitch.
I’ve just about recoverd from the craziness of Aston Villa vs Spurs in the WSL. The 10-goal-thriller finished 3-7, but the visitors could, and should, have been 0-6 up by half time. Chance after chance came and went. Against Chelsea, that wastefulness cost them. Not so on Sunday.
Spurs ended the game with 28 shots, 12 on target and an xG of 5.26. Aston Villa boss Natalia Arroyo described her opponents as “ruthless and clinical,” and the match as “cruel”. The first two figures suggest things could have been even worse for the hosts. Despite this, it was the best attacking performance all season from Martin Ho’s side, as the data from TwelveFootball’s Earpiece show.
After another failure against one of the big four, Tottenham Hotspur Women return to action against Aston Villa on Sunday, 15th February, 2026. It’s a must-win game for Martin Ho’s side, as they try to avoid ending the season in a slump.As Ho noted in his pre-match press conference, the previous games between the sides so far this season, once in the league and once in the Subway Cup, have “been two really close encounters.”
Following Tottenham Hotspurs disastrous defeat to Newcastle United in the Premier League , I had the pleasure of a group therapy session with Chris Cowlin Ricky Norwood and Craig Dearman.
As you might imagine, we were all pretty flabbergasted at what we had seen. Unsurprisingly, most of the conversation was focussed on the future of Thomas Frank. I was pretty certain he wouldn’t make it 12 hours, and so it has proven. Let’s not pretend that the permenant replacement will be anyone other than Mauricio Pochettino.
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.
Once. That is the amount of times Tottenham Women haven’t beaten one of the “Big Four” in the Women’s Super League. Spurs vs Chelsea in the WSL was another frustrating day at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the hosts. They lost 0-2 against the reigning champions thanks to goals either side of half-time.
Martin Ho’s side wasted a huge number of opportunities, especially in the first half. Olivia Holdt came closet, smashing the bar in the 11th minute with a rocket of a shot. Bethany England was amongst those who squandered chances that really should have been taken. The outcome, in the end, was inevitable. A Chelsea goal, with Kiera Walsh hitting home from a corner. It drained all the confidence Spurs had started the game with. When Alyssa Thompson netted within five minutes of the restart, that really was that.
Bethany England will take on her former side, Chelsea, this weekend, A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed her for the Daily Star, as she supported the Tottenham Hotspur foundation. She opened up about how cancer has affected her family, as well as why she cares about doing LGBT advocacy.
Speaking ahead of the win over West Ham, England reflected on the season so far. “We’ve obviously started the season really well in the first half. Probably one of our best campaigns that we’ve had to date,” she said. “I think we’ve probably passed the points that we got in total for last season. Keeping more clean sheets now, being tougher to be playing more exciting football, more football that the fans want to come and watch.”
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.”
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.