THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to play Spurs in the WSL on Saturday lunchtime. The Gunners have endured a horrendous start to the season and sit in 8th place in the WSL table. Last weekend’s draw at home to Birmingham City compounded a start to the season that has made the WSL title impossible and Champions League qualification now feels like a tall order too.
Spurs have lost their last two games against London City Lionesses and Chelsea and conceded six goals in each game. In my experience, when that happens to a team they tend to overcorrect and focus on defensive stability- this is exactly what we saw in September when Manchester United ground out a 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium on the back of a thrashing at the hands of Chelsea.
In one respect, Spurs shouldn’t present the sort of low block that has been Arsenal’s kryptonite this season. On the other, it probably wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Spurs made the calculation that two very leaky defensive performances allied to Arsenal’s issue with low defensive blocks might inspire a change of approach.
It feels a bit trite to say that Arsenal have to win, Arsenal always have to win. But in the midst of this current crisis, it feels like they have been in ‘if they don’t win this the manager might get sacked’ territory for several weeks now. Renee Slegers’ side have won two games this season, both 1-0. There simply has to be a drastic uptick in results and performances and that has to happen now, now, now and now.
TEAM NEWS
Chloe Kelly (hamstring) is still out. Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang are all absent with knee injuries. Kim Little is still out with a small muscle injury, while Frida Maanum (quad) is still out, as is Mariona (hamstring) and Selina Cerci (knee). Daphne van Domselaar will return to the match day squad following a knee injury but will not start the game.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.van Domselaar 16.Misa 28.Borbe 40.Damm
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.De Almeida 6.Williamson(c) 7.Catley 22.O.Batlle 24.Hinds 31.Holmberg
Midfielders: 4.Stanway 14.Reuteler 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 9.Foord 11.Smith 19.Baum 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
Unavailable: 8.Mariona 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 17.Agyemang 18.Kelly 26.Reid 29.Cerci
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘Spurs play high risk high reward football and that’s their identity. I can’t go into the coaches minds and into their camp and what they’re thinking. I would say they have a strong identity and will want to play the way they have been playing. Against us, it could be possible that they want to stop things. Let’s see tomorrow we’ll have to be prepared for both.
‘We have sold out the away section. So that’s that’s where our focus is. We need to fight tomorrow on that pitch for 90+ minutes and we need to do it for the fans because we know that it’s been tough times for them as well. We wanted much more for them and seeing that we sell out the away section for this game after the run of games we’ve had, that’s going to be our biggest fuel in the game to be there and give absolutely everything on the pitch for the fans tomorrow.
‘It’s been a good week and we’ve finally had some time and it’s not only about talking and meeting and those things for us. It’s been more about actions. And so we’ve had a really good training week where we’ve rescheduled a little bit and we’ve really had the time spend on the pitch. So that’s been really good for us and today we had a very sharp session and we look forward to tomorrow.’
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met in the away match last season, Spurs held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw at Brisbane Road. At Emirates Stadium in March the Gunners ran out 5-2 winners thanks to a Russo hat-trick and goals from Foord and Blackstenius.
THE OPPOSITION
Spurs started the season in very strong shape, winning 10 points from their first four games. However, the last two matches have brought some chastening lessons with a 6-1 defeat to London City Lionesses and a 6-2 defeat to Chelsea. Under current manager Martin Ho, Spurs have firmly moved into the category of a team that expects to challenge for Champions League qualification.
Spurs have upped their game in the investment stakes when it comes to their women’s team. Former Manchester United assistant coach Martin Ho’s appointment to the Head Coach position in the summer of 2025 also yielded a clear strategy that saw Tottenham increase their spending on recruitment. Big players like Alice Sombath, Amanda Nilden, Signe Gaupset, Cathinka Tandberg, Olivia Holdt, Shekeira Martinez, Julie Blakstad, Kirsty Hanson and Victoria Pelova have joined to bolster the squad.
Spurs now have a host of elite international talent to call upon. However, in recent games, a midfield of Gaupset and Pelova has been too easy for opponents to run through. In Martinez and Kirsty Hanson Spurs have brought in two of the best counter attacking attackers in the WSL and given Arsenal’s issues defending transitions recently, this will be an area to watch.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Alessia Russo scored a hat trick the last time Arsenal and Spurs met in March and the case for playing her in a deeper role seems to be fading by the week. She had scored away at Paris FC and Manchester City prior to the international break this month, before scoring in both games for England against Greece during the international period.
Russo was played in the number 10 position in the 1-1 draw with Birmingham, a decision Slegers admitted that she deliberated over, ‘with Less, she is such a good 9 and she’s done so well for England, so it was a really tough decision to say, what do we do with Less now? What’s best for the team? And we had a good conversation with Less, so she played in the 10.’
Quite simply, there can be no more of this in the short term. Russo is a 9 and is in scoring form. Even with Maanum injured, Gery Reuteler was brought into the club this summer, there is plenty of cover in the position behind the striker. Russo can absolutely play as a 10 but sooner or later you have to build around her as a 9. There are plenty of other number 10s in the squad.
MY PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 1.van Domselaar 5.De Almeida 7.Catley 9.Foord 14.Reuteler 24.Hinds 28.Borbe 31.Holmberg
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The match takes place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 12.45pm on Saturday. The game will be shown on Sky Sports in the UK, full global listings are available here.