While the ongoing international break long has brought a pause to the domestic men’s action, Tottenham Hotspur Women do not have the luxury of such a respite, facing a North London derby (NLD) away to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon (1:30 PM KO BST). The match is also available to view on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.
For most supporters of the men’s team, who may perhaps be unfamiliar with the WSL and our women’s team, this match has therefore come at a great time given that there is nothing to watch besides the general tosh on offer via the Nations League. This is perhaps reflected in the anticipated attendance figure of 51,000 for today’s game, which will resoundingly break the current WSL attendance record of 38,262 from the 2019 NLD.
Speaking to the club’s media team during her pre-match media duties yesterday, head coach Rehanne Skinner said:
“The players will relish the opportunity to play in front of a large volume of fans.
“The excitement on the pitch today in training was evident. It will pose challenges in terms of communication, making it difficult to hear, but that’s the route we want to go down and get used to. I can only see positives in it.
“We want to make life as difficult for Arsenal as we can. We’re seen as underdogs and that’s fine by us. There’s no pressure and nothing to lose. We just need to do our jobs well.”
Both sides have minimal injury worries going into this one, with the only expected injury absentee for the hosts being Teyah Goldie, who is ruled out for the foreseeable with ACL injury. For Spurs, the only pre-match doubt is Rosella Ayane, who was withdrawn early on in last week’s victory over Leicester.
Indeed, both teams enter the match on the back of opening-day victories, with Spurs beating Leicester 2-1 and Arsenal seeing off ten-man Brighton with a convincing 4-0 victory, meaning that whoever wins this one can enjoy being top of the table, at least for a few hours!
Arsenal themselves are no strangers to heading the standings; although they have not won the WSL title since 2018-19, they spent most of last season at the top before ultimately succumbing to champions Chelsea. They will be hoping to go one better this time, and an NLD at home in front of a record is sure to fire up a team that probably didn’t need much ‘firing up’ going into this game.
Indeed, the hosts can be buoyed further by this fixture’s head-to-head record, which makes for grim reading for visiting fans. In 5 WSL meetings between the two sides, Arsenal have won four and the teams have drawn once, with no victories coming at all for Spurs in 8 matches in all competitions between the two sides, which have brought 6 wins for Arsenal and 2 draws.
However, there is a first time for everything, and whichever way you look at it from a Spurs viewpoint, the game is a win-win situation: lose, and it’s a tough fixture ticked off the list; win, and it’s a bonus three points that no-one would have expected.
Despite the record crowd and the desire to close the gap on the top three, there is no real pressure on the ladies to deliver an upset going into this one. Nevertheless, COYS!