Tottenham Hotspur Women hosted their arch-rivals Arsenal in the first Women’s North London Derby of the season on Sunday. The two teams came into the match level on points with 15 each, with Arsenal holding fourth in the table by goal differential. In a hard-fought game that had moments of end-to-end attacking but ultimately settled into a defensive battle, neither team could find the back of the net and the game ended in an even, and ultimately fair, scoreless draw.
Tottenham head coach Martin Ho started an identical lineup to the one that lost 4-2 away at London City last weekend, a decision that raised a few eyebrows but that was vindicated in the first half. Spurs club captain Beth England once again started on the bench, with Tinka Tandberg starting in a front three along with Jessica Naz and Matilda Vinberg. Drew Spence, Eveliina Summanen, and Olivia Holdt played in the midfield behind, with a back four of Toko Koga, Clare Hunt, Amanda Nilden, and Ashleigh Neville, with Lize Kop between the sticks.
The match was a fairly even affair, and entertaining with both teams looking to push forward and create opportunities. Spurs looked dangerous early, but allowed Arsenal to settle, with the visitors holding much of the possession advantage in the first half. That said, while Arsenal had much of the ball, Spurs’ defense frequently frustrated the visitors; Arsenal held the shot advantage with 13 to Spurs four, but only four shots on target, and few of them troubling Kop.
Tottenham struggled to create attacks of their own, however they did look threatening on the counterattack at times. That industry rarely led to a shot, but Spurs did not look like a team that was trying to bunker. In the last ten minutes, Tottenham seemed content to try and see out the scoreless draw, hoofing the ball defensively into space as their defenders tired.
Spurs did their best to nick a winner late by bringing England in for Tandberg at 60’, and Ho brought Olga Ahtinen for Summanen and Martha Thomas for Vinberg at 75’. Lena Gunning-Williams also made a late cameo just before extra time, coming in for Holdt.
The match felt like one of those games where both teams were waiting for the other team to screw up. Ultimately, neither team did, at least in any way that really mattered. The final score was a 0-0 draw, and Tottenham will come away feeling happier about the result, but feeling like they could’ve done more to take all three.
Here are my match reactions from a highly entertaining scoreless draw in the Women’s North London Derby.
Match reactions