Tottenham Hotspur Women didn’t concede six goals to their opponents in this match, but they did drop their third straight match against a quality opponent on Saturday, falling to Arsenal 1-2 in the first North London Derby of the season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. On a blustery, cold and rainy day, Spurs struck first thanks to a Cathinka Tandberg header off of a corner, but Arsenal equalized via Georgia Stanway and got the winner from a somewhat controversial second half penalty called on Spurs reserve defender Ella Morris, with Alessia Russo firing home from the spot for the win. The loss was Tottenham’s third straight defeat against quality opposition; although they didn’t give up multiple goals to their opponents, they looked comfortably second best in the second half.
Martin Ho again put out a very strong team for the Derby, with the most notable change being Alice Sombath starting in the back line as a right back and both Caitlin Dijkstra and Eveliina Summanen making the starting 11. Impactful midfielder Olivia Holdt started on the bench, as did Kirsty Hanson. And perhaps the biggest news — Jessica Naz was back on the bench for Tottenham after missing 10 months of action with a serious ACL injury, though she did not come on as a substitute.
The match started off a bit of a sloppy mess with Spurs trying to press Arsenal high and both teams making uncharacteristically poor passes. But it was Spurs who struck first, off of a corner kick in the 12th minute — Cathinka Tandberg powered a header near the back post past Arsenal keeper Misa Rodriguez to put the hosts up 1-0. But Arsenal replied quickly, with Georgia Stanway powering in a long-range effort to level the score in theh 17th minute.
Spurs came out of the locker room a bit flat, and their defense took a hit when Alice Sombath was stretchered off the pitch with what looked like a serious knee injury. Ella Morris came on as her replacement and struggled, getting skinned early to set up an Arsenal chance and later giving up a penalty for a handball in Spurs’ box that led to an Alessia Russo spot kick goal to put the Gunners ahead.
With Spurs chasing the match, Martin Ho made a double sub midway through the second half, bringing in Sheikira Martinez and Kirsty Hanson for Vinberg and goal-scorer Tandberg. Martinez had a couple of half-chances late in the match, but was more frequently called offside in her attacks. Spurs huffed and puffed but weren’t able to find an equalizer. The final score was a 1-2 Arsenal victory.
Match reactions
- This was one of the most even WNLDs I’ve seen so far, which speaks to how much the gap between these clubs has narrowed over the past few seasons.
- Curious about Summanen starting in place of Olivia Holdt who has started more matches on the bench than on the pitch this season. Wonder if it’s injury related, or if Ho wanted a little more physicality and tackling ability in midfield.
- Tottenham Women are actually pretty good from set pieces as we saw with their opening goal. Great corner, great header, great goal. Super happy for Tinka.
- Spurs simply can’t give Georgia Stanway that much space to shoot anywhere on the pitch. She’s a threat from long range, and she thumped one past Kop’s hand, who perhaps could’ve done better to stop it.
- Spurs spent most of the first half with their wingers deep helping defend, which didn’t leave many outlets on the times Spurs were able to win the ball and get forward. It meant Spurs’ open play attacking suffered, so thank goodness for set piece headers.
- Sombath’s injury looked awful. We’ll have to wait for a diagnosis, but it sure looked like she did her knee, and on her first start for the club. Awful.
- The penalty against Ella Morris felt incredibly harsh. Yes, her hand was in an unnatural position but she was extremely close to the clearance. I feel like that penalty is almost never given, but it was in this case, which sucks.
- Signe Gaupset is an incredibly talented player but I feel like she gets stuck in her own head at times. In this one she frequently tried to dribble herself into a threatening position instead of looking for passes to open teammates.
- Lize Kop had an outstanding match, making a number of really good saves and playing well out of the back. She let two goals in, but she had a good match.
- Much like the men’s team, Spurs had a number of good opportunities in Arsenal’s final third, but they weren’t able to turn those into meaningful scoring opportunities. They only had one shot on target the entire match. Arsenal dominated the xG in this one mostly thanks to a couple of big chances early in the half. Arsenal won the xG 0.30 – 2.35.
- It sucks that this match came down to a marginal and unlucky handball penalty decision, but it’s hard to argue that Spurs were the better side, especially in the second half. This season has seen a real let-off in the second period against quality opposition, and that’s something that really needs to be addressed.
- This is a very young Tottenham team and while it sucks to see them fail at every major hurdle so far this season, I still have high hopes that they can be a good side.
- Spurs’ murderer’s row of fixtures is now over — they play Bristol City in the Cup next, followed by a trip to Birmingham City.