THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal take on Tottenham Hotspur in the WSL at Emirates Stadium on Saturday teatime. The Gunners come into the derby off the back of 10 consecutive wins across the WSL, Champions League and FIFA Champions Cup. It’s in stark contrast to the last time the teams met in November when Spurs held an Arsenal lacking in inspiration to a 0-0 draw at Leyton Orient.
On the back of that game, Arseblog News asked Slegers whether Arsenal were going through a bad spell and she responded, ‘Yeah, of course. We said it in the changing room with the players. It’s hard at the moment. We can’t deny it.’ Fast forward to now and Arsenal come into the game on a winning run and with a 3-1 lead to take to Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final next week.
That said, keeping focus on this game with a big second leg in West London on Wednesday will be critical. Recent draws for Chelsea and Manchester United in the WSL mean Arsenal do have 2nd place in their own hands in the WSL- but there is still a long way to go for the remainder of this season.
It is the third of four consecutive London derbies for Arsenal and they cannot afford to take their eye off the ball. They have forged themselves a good groove in recent weeks and they need to work hard to stay in it. Spurs held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw at Brisbane Road in November and defeated Arsenal 4-3 during pre-season, so there is no room for complacency.
TEAM NEWS
Steph Catleyand Caitlin Foord are set to return to the squad following their return from the Asian Cup. Kyra Cooney-Cross has stayed in Australia to be with her family and will remain home for the remainder of the season. The game will come slightly too soon for Leah Williamson (hamstring), while Manu Zinsberger, Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang miss out with ACL injuries.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 13.Votikova, 14.van Domselaar, 28.Borbe, 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox, 3.Wubben-Moy, 5.L.Codina, 7.Catley, 11.McCabe, 24.Hinds, 31.Holmberg
Midfielders: 8.Mariona, 10.Little, 12.L.Maanum, 21.Pelova, 67.Brodie
Forwards: 9.Mead, 15.Smith, 18.Kelly, 19.Foord, 23.Russo, 25.Blackstenius
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
We have to keep on doing what we’re doing and fuel ourselves with the belief that we have and all the things that we’re doing at the moment that are contributing to our performances and results. There’s a lot of big and small things that we’re consistently doing at a high level and that’s what we’re pushing and we want to keep on improving.
Everything that we’ve done before will count in this game. We’re gonna attack this game together with the fans. At the moment, I think around 45, 47,000 tickets sold. So we’ll be there together with the fans and we’ll be shoulder to shoulder and we want to give them everything we possibly can and they will give it back because this is a very special game and I think it will be a very special occasion at the Emirates tomorrow.
They’ve posed different questions in the two games so far (the teams played one another in pre-season). So let’s see what they what they do tomorrow at the Emirates, playing in a North London Derby, what their strategy will be. But again, we have to plan for all the scenarios and be really good in all phases of the game. There’s a couple of things that we really want to do tomorrow. We’ll have focus on ourselves and then we’ll see how Tottenham comes out.
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at Brisbane Road in November, Spurs held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw. When the teams faced off at Emirates Stadium last season, the Gunners ran out 5-0 winners thanks to goals from Mariona, Frida Maanum, Alessia Russo, Emily Fox and a Claire Hunt own goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N1G8fJREsE
THE OPPOSITION
Tottenham finished second bottom of the WSL last season. While they were comfortably clear of the relegation spot, finishing 10 points clear of the WSL trap door, it was clear that something needed to change. Swedish coach Robert Vilahamn left and was replaced by Martin Ho, who had enjoyed a very good spell as Head Coach of Brann after a highly rated three years as assistant coach at Manchester United.
Ho revived Tottenham’s fortunes and quickly made them a surprise contender for Champions League qualification during the first half of the campaign. At the point of their 0-0 draw with Arsenal in November, they were only one point behind the Gunners in the WSL table. Spurs have fallen away a little, they are six points behind Arsenal having played two games more.
However, there was never any realistic aspiration of finishing ahead of their North London rivals. Sitting 5th nine points clear of sixth placed Everton is much more where Spurs would pitch themselves. They have signed strong Scandinavian talent with Amanda and Matilda Nilden, Hanna Wijk and Norwegian sensation Signe Gaupset.
Tottenham should finish comfortably in the ‘best of the rest’ position in the WSL this season. The question for clubs who finish 5th is always how they build on that and Spurs have been there before, in 2021-22 they finished 5th in the WSL and in 2022-23 found themselves in a relegation battle again. Spurs have spent well but there is always the spectre of the ‘big four’ taking your best players. Tottenham have built a strong foundation with Martin Ho, the question is whether they have the ambition to try to go to the next level.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Kim Little extended her Arsenal contract for a further year this week and it makes sense for all parties. Kim remains in the conversation for the best player in the league as she approaches her 36th birthday and she still starts every game more or less, let alone every important game.
The club’s desire to keep Little on was obvious for obvious reasons, it was only a question of whether the player herself wanted to continue. Happily, she does. There will be a fuss made of Kim at this game, having signed her new contract and having passed 400 appearances for the club recently. And rightly so.
I imagine Kim will be ‘looked after’ in this game and won’t play the full 90 minutes given the second leg against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening, where she will certainly be required for the full 90 minutes and potentially beyond. But you watch football, you don’t need me to tell you why Kim is important in this game, it’s the same reason she is important in every game and she will be for the 406th time on Saturday.
MY PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 2.Fox 7.Catley 13.Votikova 14.van Domselaar 18.Kelly 19.Foord 21.Pelova 23.Russo 24.Hinds
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game kicks off at 5.30pm at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, it will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK. Full global listings are available here.
COMING UP
We will have the lineup posted around an hour before kickoff, Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report and every word of Renee Slegers’ post match press conference will be online around an hour after the final whistle. Jamie and I will have a podcast for you on Monday and we will likely have a tactical analysis piece on the game too.