The first Women’s Super League north London derby of the season takes place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 12.45pm on Saturday.
We’re looking to get back to winning ways following the weekend’s 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham City.
Almost 4,000 Arsenal supporters have bought their tickets to sell out a huge away end!
GOALS AT EITHER END
Our local rivals are fourth in the WSL ahead of the weekend, having enjoyed a mostly positive start to the 2026/27 campaign.
Wins over West Ham United (3-1), Crystal Palace (7-0), Aston Villa (4-0) and a 1-1 draw with Liverpool saw Martin Ho crowned Manager of the Month for September.
That form hasn’t continued into October though, with Spurs losing 6-1 at home to London City Lionesses before being beaten 6-2 away to Chelsea.
In the Subway Players Cup, they’ve drawn 0-0 at home to West Ham before losing 4-3 on penalties, and beat Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 away.
Former Gunner Victoria Pelova is their top scorer in all competitions with four goals, having arrived at the club in the summer.
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY
Slegers: “They play high-risk, high-reward football - that’s their identity. I can’t go into their camp and know what they’re thinking, but they have a strong identity and could play the way they’ve been playing. Let’s see tomorrow.
“Being faster is absolutely something we’ve worked on, because we know last year we played a lot against low blocks and compact organisations. Looking for moments we can go faster and be unpredictable is something we’ve looked to add to our game." - Read every word of Renée’s pre-Tottenham Hotspur press conference.
Ho: “These are the games you want to play in, the players want to play in. You have so many different aspects, so there's a lot of excitement around the group, the staff and around the club and we are really excited to get going on Saturday."
"You have to play the game, not the occasion and not get wrapped up in everything that's going on before it or during it. Make sure we're more robust and we show more steel in certain parts of the game defensively. Accept that we will suffer at times against a good Arsenal team but also make sure we apply ourselves correctly with the ball. We're brave, we show personality with it and we do what we usually do."
TEAM NEWS
Daphne van Domselaar will be back in the squad. "It’s too early to play," Renée said, "but we want to get her back in the routine with the team and she’ll do the warm-up." Kim Little is unavailable as she's managing a knock, and Chloe Kelly isn’t yet ready to play. Katie Reid is training with the team, and Michelle Agyemang is working on her recovery in the background.
For Tottenham, Jess Naz is back in contention after recovering from an ACL injury, while Olga Ahtinen remains sidelined with a knock and Clare Hunt continues to recover from her injury.
FACTS AND STATS
We have won 10 of our 13 north London derbies in the WSL (D2 L1), scoring five goals in our last two wins: 5-0 in February 2025, 5-2 in March 2026.
Spurs are only the second team in WSL history to concede six or more goals in back-to-back games, after Doncaster Rovers Belles in 2013. Each of Spurs’ last four defeats have all seen them concede at least five goals, the longest ever run in the competition by any side.
Renee Slegers is unbeaten in all 17 of her WSL games against English managers (W11 D6), with only Sonia Bompastor (18 – faces Jo Potter on MD7) facing English coaches more often without losing in the competition.
Alessia Russo has scored more WSL goals against Spurs (8) than any other opponent.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Phoebe Cross has been appointed to take charge of Saturday’s derby. She has seen over five WSL matches so far this season, handing out 17 yellow cards and no reds in the process.
One of them was our 0-0 draw at home to Crystal Palace in September.
Referee: Phoebe Cross
Assistant Referees: Jon Ashworth-Sears and Matthew Joyce
Fourth Official: Lisa Benn