Tottenham Hotspur

We’re set for our first meeting with London City Lionesses in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday.

The newly promoted side have enjoyed a positive start to life in their maiden campaign in England’s top flight, sitting sixth in the table with nine points from their first seven games, while we’re sat in fourth with 15 points out of a possible 21.

Here’s all you need to know ahead of our clash with the Lionesses on Sunday…

What time does the match start?

The game begins at 11.55am UK time.

How can I watch the game?

Supporters in the UK will be able to watch the game on Sky Sports+ and Sky Sports’ YouTube channel, while it will also be available on WSL YouTube.

If you’re following us from overseas, check out this link here to see if the game is live in your area.

Our Match Centre here on tottenhamhotspur.com and the Spurs Official app will bring you full live text and audio commentary throughout the match.

Video highlights will be available on club channels 10 minutes the full-time whistle, alongside all the post-match reactions.

What is the team news?

Chris Williams, who took the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, reported that all players who were involved in the win against Liverpool is available for this weekend’s clash at Hayes Lane.

Long-term absentees Maite Oroz, Ella Morris and Luana Buhler remain unavailable for selection.

For the hosts, defender Teyah Goldie is in contention to feature this weekend after returning to training this week.

However, they will be without Isa Kardinaal, Lucia Corrales, Danielle van de Donk, Sofia Jakobsson and Emily Orman.

Who is the referee?

Stacey Pearson is in the middle for Sunday’s London derby.

She will be assisted by Anastasiya Voloshchuk and Lorraine Catchpole.

Grace Lowe will be the fourth official.

What kit colours will the teams be wearing?

London City Lionesses will be wearing their all-home strip, consisting of light blue shirts, black shorts and black socks.

We’ll be wearing our third kit for the encounter at Hayes Lane, featuring vibrant yellow shirt with blue detailing, yellow shorts and yellow socks.

What will the weather be like?

The early morning in Bromley will mist and fog but that will soon lift with sunny spells throughout the day. Temperatures at around 14 degrees.

We can confirm the starting line-ups and substitutes for Saturday's Premier League lunchtime kick-off against Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (12.30pm UK).

Thomas Frank has made three changes to the team that started the 4-0 win over FC Copenhagen in midweek.

Djed Spence, Joao Palhinha and Richarlison come into the team, with Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur and Wilson Odobert making way.

Under-21 duo James Rowswell and Yusuf Akhamrich get their first involvement in a Premier League matchday squad with a place amongst our substitutes.

Here's our full team...

Starting XI: Vicario, Palhinha, Xavi, Richarlison, Romero (c), Johnson, Pedro Porro, Spence, Sarr, van de Ven, Kolo Muani.

Substitutes: Kinsky, Danso, Tel, Udogie, Odobert, Bentancur, Scarlett, Akhamrich, Rowswell.

Our run of home games to start the month of November concludes with a huge Saturday lunchtime clash with Manchester United this weekend.

After a recent upturn in fortunes, the Red Devils are level on 17 points with us heading into the match, although they’re two places behind in eighth.

Here’s everything you need to know about our last outing before the international break...

What time does the match start?

We get underway at 12.30pm UK time.

How can I watch the game?

Saturday’s match will be televised live in the UK on TNT Sports 1.

Supporters based overseas are advised to check our Spurs on TV page to see if the game is live in your area.

As always, our Match Centre here on tottenhamhotspur.com and the Spurs Official app will bring you full live text and audio commentary throughout the contest.

Video highlights will be available on club channels from two hours after the full-time whistle, with a full match replay on SPURSPLAY from midnight.

What is the team news?

Mohammed Kudus is rated “touch and go” after missing the midweek Champions League win over Copenhagen.

Lucas Bergvall misses out after being forced off early against Chelsea last weekend, while Radu Dragusin, Yves Bissouma, James Maddison, Archie Gray, Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, Kota Takai and Ben Davies all remain sidelined.

Mathys Tel is available once more after being ineligible on Tuesday while Brennan Johnson is also at Thomas Frank’s disposal as his suspension for his red card against Copenhagen only applies to Champions League matches.

Lisandro Martinez remains out for United.

Spurs Remembers

During this period of Remembrance, the Club is honouring those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country and showing our support for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.

Ahead of kick-off on Saturday, members of our Armed Forces Spurs Official Supporters’ Club, including representatives of the Army, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, will lay a poppy wreath on the pitch, followed by a period of silence during which The Last Post will be played by a bugler.

The players will once again be wearing special edition poppy shirts during the game, which fans will be able to bid for via MatchWornShirt, with proceeds going to the Royal British Legion. Our ever-popular Spurs Poppy pin badges are now also on sale online and at the Tottenham Experience for a donation of £6 to the Royal British Legion.

To find out more about the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, and to make a donation, please visit britishlegion.org.uk

Who is the referee?

Sam Barrott is the referee on Saturday.

He’ll be assisted by Tim Wood and Nick Greenhalgh.

The fourth official is Rob Jones, with John Brooks and assistant Tony Harrington on VAR duties.

Great strikes against Man United  Tottenham Hotspur

On taking the press conference…

“It's a bit different to where I'm normally used to working. But it's a new little challenge that I've got – and I get to talk to you guys today.”

On London City Lionesses and this weekend’s clash…

"From our own point of view, obviously, we can only speak about ourselves. It's the old cliche of we're just looking at the next game ahead and taking things from there. We've set ourselves short, medium and long-term goals across the season to go for, and we're running into those nicely at this moment in time. We are obviously aware that London City Lionesses are a good team as well. They've recruited well over the summer and started the season well.”

On the strength in attacking positions with Bethany England and Cathinka Tandberg's strong starts...

“Ultimately what we want within the squad is competition so, from that point of view, they're both putting pressure on each other, then challenging each other and pushing each other to new levels, to help the team help each other, and obviously help themselves as well. It's a healthy competition between the two of them, and they're working well together to progress.”

On Martin Ho’s absence and whether that will cause disruption…

"No, there’s been no disruption at all. There’s been collaboration between us as staff – we’ve got four of us as technical staff in the group, we all speak on a daily basis multiple times, so we're aware of what we want to work on, what we want to achieve, how we want to achieve it, and obviously put plans together, training plans ready for what we're going to confront London City Lionesses with at the weekend. So, with Martin not being here, his presence is felt when it's not here, but we take the reins and put in place what he wants.”

On his time at the Club…

“It was a disappointing (Last season) for us - there's no doubt in that. But this season we've made significant changes within the coaching staff, and obviously we've progressed the way we have and the results are starting to show for us, which is pleasing for us to see. But what we're not doing is getting carried away with that and allowing ourselves to get settled behind that. We want to keep pushing, we want to keep pushing ourselves as staff and we want to push the players as well.”

On the threat that London City Lionesses possess in attack…

“What we have to do is look at what the opposition's strengths are, which obviously clearly - they do score goals. So, in preparation with the goalkeepers, we prepare them for what potential threats they've going to face and then link that in with the back four and midfield units as well, to make sure they're aware what threats they're going to do and how we then work on the training pitch, on how we're going to nullify that.”

On Sophie Jackson’s progression and receiving her call-up for England Under-19s last month…

“I think, ultimately, what we want as well is healthy competition within the goalkeeping group. They’re three good people that work together really well. Sophie's obviously gone away with the international set-up for the first time and she managed to earn her way. I spoke to the goalkeeping coach [at England] and he told me that she's earned the shirt, that it wasn't given, so she's actually performed well within the training environment to give herself the best opportunity to go and play. Then she's got in the games and she's done well. It's all a learning curve for Sophie. It's early days for her, but things are moving in right direction for her.”

On Lize Kop’s start to the season…

“Lize’s your typical goalkeeper, really. She's a really good character, both on and off the pitch. She's certainly ambitious, which is something that we saw within her when we went through the recruitment process, and she's delivering on that. There's things that we highlighted when she first came in, that me and Lize both spoke about, but we’re working towards those areas and she's making good strides on that. I think she's a really important part of us, as a goalkeeper is within the football team, and her performances on the pitch so far this season have been very good, both in possession and out of possession. The results off the back of that link to the back four and the rest of the team and we are keeping more clean sheets this season. It's a priority for us to do that, but it gives us a platform to be able to push on and win games.”

On the players' belief growing after a strong start to the season…

“We only focus on the game that's in front of us at this moment in time because there are three points on the table for us this weekend that we can potentially pick up. It's not as easy as just going and picking them up, we have to be in the right mindset, we have to have the right mentality and approach. But the feel within the group is really good and the building over there is bouncing. Obviously we're picking up points along the way, which is good for us, but I think that ‘one week at a time’ approach is the important way of doing it. We're not taking our eye off the ball that's right in front of us, and not looking too far ahead.”

"Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 always feels under scrutiny, but Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo have had a swift impact. The recent win over Liverpool was huge, not only in terms of approach, but a display of character too..."

Rob Daly, official club commentator, presenter and pundit

Settling in Sesko...

Manchester United focused their summer activity on upgrading their attack, including the signing of RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko. His link-up looks an upgrade on Rasmus Hojlund’s – dropping to use his 6ft 5ins frame to protect the ball before bringing Cunha and Mbeumo into play. The Slovenian varies things too with his rapid pace, looking to get in behind, while he’s built up a reputation for fierce shots and acrobatic efforts – however he’s been limited to two close range goals so far against Brentford and Sunderland. Sesko also struggled to impact last week’s 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest with Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic playing very physical with the striker, perhaps something Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven could recreate today.

Proven Premier League quality...

Behind Sesko, United added two of the league’s top scoring forwards from last season –Mbeumo (20 goals) and Cunha (15 goals). Both collect the ball from the striker and are extremely effective at making driving, penetrative runs centrally through the pitch. Mbeumo, a former Thomas Frank player, has elevated United’s attack already adding five goals, while Cunha has also played as the striker, which he’s done to good effect when required, showing real swagger in a United shirt and even dropping to near his own box to collect possession. Fundamentally, with more traditional wingers out of the door like Garnacho, Antony, Sancho and Rashford, United now have forwards of the profile Amorim wants offensively and defensively.

The Diallo dilemma...

The new arrivals, along with Mason Mount’s ability to operate behind the striker, means Amad Diallo is at right-wing back, a position he occupied last season despite playing in the front three during the Europa League Final. When United attack, Diallo is a threat bombing forward down that side, building a great understanding with Mbeumo. The pair linked up for a goal at Liverpool and impressed during the 4-2 Brighton win, with Amad explaining the fact they both speak French and have a good relationship off the pitch has helped. However, when he’s forward and possession is turned over, United are vulnerable to passes down the right-sided centre-back and even in a settled low block you can see the Ivorian is not the most comfortable defender. Much was made of the fact he was beaten to the ball by Morgan Gibbs-White for a headed goal last week against Forest, but Diallo’s remarkable volley to level the game nine minutes from time showed the worthwhile trade off.

Settling on a side...

Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro in midfield don’t feel as exposed this season as the striker drops deep to thicken things up out of possession. Mbeumo and Cunha like to play inside anyway while even Luke Shaw can step into that area of the pitch from left-sided centre-back. In short, United look more compact, and with no European football this season, Amorim can use his midweeks to hone his tactics. In goal, Senne Lammens, signed from Royal Antwerp, looks commanding from crosses and, while Amorim generally wants to play out from the back, they’ve had success going direct from their goalkeeper. Arne Slot acknowledged it was a major factor in Liverpool’s recent loss to today’s visitors, while only Wolves (792) have played more long passes this season than Manchester United (770) – something for Spurs’ centre-backs to deal with.

Last time we met in the Premier League...

Incredibly, each of our last 12 Premier League goals against Manchester United has been scored by a different player - but can you name them?

In a run since 12 March, 2022, we have scored 12 Premier League goals against the Red Devils and every time a different player has been responsible.

Our challenge to you is to name the 12 different players before the timer runs out in our quiz below!

For clarity this does not include goals from other competitions, so you can disregard our four strikes in December's Carabao Cup clash and, sadly, that also means you need to forget about Brennan Johnson's Europa League Final winner - only for the purpose of this quiz though.

Hint: All of the goals in this list might not have been scored by Spurs players...

To take on the challenge, click the green 'Play Quiz' button below to get started before inputting your answers in the box titled 'enter player'.

You will have 10 minutes to name as many of the 12 goalscorers as you can. To help, the date of the game as well as the score are listed next to the relevant answer box.

Thomas Frank knows we're facing a Manchester United team on the up at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday (12.30pm UK) - and knows their key threat inside-out.

United drew 2-2 at Forest last time out having won their last three in the Premier League against Sunderland, Liverpool and Brighton - that upturn in form earned Ruben Amorim the league's Manager of the Month accolade for October.

Bryan Mbeumo's performances have played a huge part in that - and he was named Premier League Player of the Month on Friday.

Thomas signed Mbeumo for Brentford from French side Troyes in France in 2019 and the pair spent six seasons together before departing this summer for N17 and Old Trafford. Mbeumo scored 70 in 242 appearances for the Bees, including a 20-goal league campaign last term. He's also won 26 caps for Cameroon in that time, having been first called up in 2022.

Now they face each other for the first time - and Thomas was asked about Mbeumo and United in his pre-match press conference...

What do expect from Man United?

Thomas: “I think, first and foremost, you can see it's a Man Utd team that got more confidence, definitely. I think Ruben and his coaching staff have done a very good job. It's clearly been a tough year for them and for him. I admire him a lot for that, to go through a very tricky spell with a lot of setbacks. To get through that with that focus is well done. You can see the bits he's been working on, it's more and more clear. I think it's also clear that he plays not only a system but a specific way, which they are very good at and they're getting better and better at. Right now, they are in a moment where they have more or less every key player available and found his team. They played more or less the same team in the last four or five games, so we know exactly what to expect from them. I think they have an incredibly dangerous front three. They're starting to get more up to pace and we need to close them down. On the flip side, make sure they run a little bit more backwards because we're attacking.”

How pleased are you to see how well Bryan Mbeumo is doing? I imagine you're not surprised at that?

Thomas: “No, I'm not surprised. Of course, I'll step out of my role at Tottenham! When you work with a player for six years, you get a close relationship. To see him develop from being a young man, 19 years old when he moved to London and Brentford and left six years later, going into one of the biggest clubs in the world with all that focus and the way he stepped up. For me, looking from the outside, maybe a little bit biased, I think he's been their best offensive player. He can create, he can score, he works hard, he's a team player. He's the perfect example, in my opinion, for a player what I call about attitude, confident but humble. He's a top player. I think he will have fantastic success. I hope that for him, not tomorrow, but in general I hope and wish him all the best.”

Manchester United have just one player sidelined for our Premier League clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday (12.30pm UK).

Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez continues his road to recovery after suffering a serious knee injury against Palace in early February.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Amorim - named the Premier League Manager of the Month for October on Friday - said: "It’s one game every week and then a little bit of luck, because sometimes you have problems with players with knocks, it’s not something that is soft tissues.

"So you never know what is going to happen in the next training. If you play with intensity in training, something can happen, but I think the big reason... of course, we try to do everything well, the big reason is one game every week.

"You can give one extra day to the players that you know could struggle in the next training. I think that is the biggest reason."

London City Lionesses vs Spurs (WSL) | Key Stats | How have we fared against promoted sides?

@SpursOfficial

Fri 07 November 2025, 16:00| Tottenham Hotspur

This weekend sees us make the trip to face newcomers London City Lionesses for the first time in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Sunday’s early kick-off (11.55am UK) will be our first competitive meeting between us and the Lionesses since 2023, where we ran out 5-0 winners at home in the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup.

In fact, we’ve only faced the newly-promoted side just once before that cup clash – a 4-0 win in the Women’s League Cup in 2020 – although we’ve met in a pre-season friendly more recently – a 6-1 victory at Hotspur Way in August, 2024.

We’ve won eight of our last 10 fixtures against promoted sides in the competition since our debut campaign in 2019/20, winning four in a row since a 2-1 away defeat at Liverpool in March, 2023.

Meanwhile, Bethany England, who wrote history in our win over Liverpool by becoming the first player in the WSL to score 50 home goals, boasts an impressive record against promoted sides in the WSL, scoring 20 goals in 21 appearances - more than any other player in the competition.

Last weekend saw us pick up our fifth win of the campaign and take our points tally to 15 from our opening seven league games this term – resulting in our best-ever start at this stage of a campaign in England’s top flight.

Watch | Last time out against our opponents

Record against newly promoted sides in the WSL

Spurs 3-1 Aston Villa – 2020/21

Aston Villa 1-0 Spurs – 2020/21

Leicester City 0-2 Spurs – 2021/22

Spurs 1-0 Leicester City – 2021/22

Spurs 1-0 Liverpool – 2022/23

Liverpool 2-1 Spurs – 2022/23

Spurs 3-1 Bristol City – 2023/24

Bristol City 0-1 Spurs – 2023/24

Spurs 4-0 Crystal Palace – 2024/25

Crystal Palace 2-3 Spurs – 2024/25

Match stats

This will be third meeting with London City Lionesses in all competitions, with the Lionesses losing the previous two by an aggregate score of 0-9, most recently losing 0-5 in the fourth round of the 2022-23 FA Cup.

We've won eight of their last 10 league games against newly promoted opposition (L2), winning four in a row since a 2-1 away defeat at Liverpool in March 2023.

London City Lionesses have won all three of their WSL games against sides that finished in the bottom half of last season’s table (beat Everton, Liverpool and West Ham), losing their other four games all to the sides that occupied last season’s top four. They have averaged 0.3 goals against in those wins, but 3.8 against in the defeats.

We’ve won 15 points from their seven league games this season (W5 D2), our best ever start at this stage of a WSL campaign.

London City Lionesses have won their last two WSL home games 1-0, against Liverpool and then West Ham. Liverpool in 2022-23 were the last newly promoted team to win three in a row on home soil in the top-flight, while Manchester United in 2019-20 and Manchester City in 2014 are the only promoted sides to do so without conceding.

We’ve won two of their three WSL away games under manager Martin Ho (L1), as many victories as across our previous 16 league matches on the road (D8 L6) – only Aston Villa (1) have conceded fewer goals than us (2) away from home this season.

Only Leicester City (15.7) and Liverpool (14.7) have allowed their opposition more passes per defensive action faced in the Women’s Super League this season than London City Lionesses (12.3), while only the Foxes (52) and Tottenham Hotspur (57) have recorded fewer high turnovers than the London outfit (61).

Nikita Parris could become the fifth player to make 200+ appearances in the WSL and the first forward to do so – the Englishwoman scored on her 50th (vs Bristol City) and 100th (vs Yeovil) appearances in the competition but failed to do so on her 150th in October 2023 (vs Aston Villa).