THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal travel to Spurs for the North London derby on Saturday lunchtime looking to build on their recent good form with four wins from their last five under interim manager Renee Slegers. The Gunners have rediscovered their scoring touch with nine goals in their last two games, including an outstanding 4-0 away win at Juventus on Tuesday evening.
This fixture marked the nadir of Arsenal’s campaign last season where they entered it off the back of a fulminating 4-1 win over Chelsea, while Spurs entered it in meagre form. It was a week that summarised the Gunners’ WSL season as they fell to a profligate 1-0 defeat where the XG score was 2.5 to 0.4 in their favour.
Being an interim coach is a niche role. Renee Slegers needed to stabilise the squad and reconnect players with their confidence. She has clearly leant on her skills from her previous role as a one-to-one player coach to do that. She has been logical about the very requirements of an Interim👇🔴⚪️
— Tim Stillman (@tim-stillman.bsky.social) 14 November 2024 at 15:21
So Arsenal will not take their current form for granted going into this one. They lost last season at West Ham and Slegers steered the team to victory in that fixture this season. Now they will look to banish this particular ghost of 2023-24. The game again takes place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on a weekend where all WSL and Championship fixtures will take place in club’s main stadiums, the first time this has ever happened in women’s football in England.
Slegers side will negotiate the game ahead of a crunch Champions League tie at home to Juventus on Thursday night but full focus will be afforded to tackling Robert Vilahamn’s team on Saturday. It remains to be seen whether we see more of a measure of rotation for this game, Slegers has preferred a pretty steady approach to team selection so far but while wholesale changes will not happen, it remains to be seen whether she chooses to shuffle the pack a little in respect of back-to-back Champions League ties against Juventus.
TEAM NEWS
There is no new team news from the trip to Italy on Tuesday night, with Laura Wienroither back in the squad after a small meniscus injury. Victoria Pelova (knee) and Amanda Ilestedt (maternity leave) are the only absentees.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 26.Wienroither 62.Reid
Midfielders: 10.Little(c) 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 22.Kuhl 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 8.Mariona 9.Mead 17.Hurtig, 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 53.Lia 56.Godfrey
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘It was the last game before the Christmas break last year so one big thing for us is that we are in the moment and we don’t think about what happens after the game and just be in the moment. What Tottenham did really well last year was closing down spaces and they worked really hard for 90 plus minutes. That was a big learning on how we break things down but we don’t know exactly what Tottenham are going to do tomorrow.
‘Where are they are at as a team, how will they attack? What will they give us? We will have to be on our toes tomorrow. The way Spurs have been playing they are versatile in their midfield, they will ask us some questions so we will need to solve those questions. They might rotate in positions and we need players who can read that and communicate that really, really well.
‘Tottenham are a strong team, they have been playing top four opposition a lot already and they are tough games and I think they might be stronger than the results they have had so far so we respect them as an opponent. They have some individual qualities, they have great mentality and do things together, they are going to be hard but if we keep bringing what we are bringing, we are a top team.
‘I have coached against Robert Vilahamn before in Sweden and he’s a really good coach, he reads the game very well. He might make in-game changes we might make in-game changes so it is going to be an interesting game. But it is going to be about what the players bring on the pitch and we have very intelligent football players and they are going to manage themselves too.’
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season, Spurs shocked the visitors, winning 1-0 thanks to a second half Martha Thomas goal. It was Tottenham’s first ever win over Arsenal. In the reverse fixture in March, an Alessia Russo goal gave the Gunners a 1-0 victory at Emirates Stadium.
THE OPPOSITION
Spurs enjoyed a solid season, the first under Swedish coach Robert Vilahamn, in 2023-24, finishing sixth in the table with a more progressive brand of football than they had played previously. They also reached their first major domestic cup final but were easily beaten by Manchester United at Wembley in May.
They are currently 7th in the table but do not look nearly as defensively solid this season, their XG conceded is the second highest in the WSL with only Crystal Palace conceding more presentable chances. They have conceded 12 goals to Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea already this season and are holding on until January when they can acquire their preferred goalkeeper target Jennifer Falke from Hacken.
Tottenham have also been hit creatively by Grace Clinton’s return to Manchester United after an outstanding loan spell in North London last season, while Celine Bizet also transferred to United late in the summer. It has meant Spurs have lost some ball carrying qualities even if they did sign Hayley Raso from Real Madrid to help amend for that. For a more in-depth look at Spurs’ issues this season, we recommend this piece from the Spurs Women Blog on The Cutback Substack.
PLAYER TO WATCH
While it is true that Arsenal fans have widely discussed the succession plan in central midfield away from Lia Walti and Kim Little, on Tuesday evening in Biella the pair illustrated why they are still so trusted by Renee Slegers. Little and Walti was the midfield double pivot when Arsenal beat Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in November 2019.
In Italy, Little and Walti made three tackles a piece, the joint highest in the team, Little made two interceptions while Walti made one, Little completed 94.4% of her passes, the highest of all the starters (Walti was at 90.7%). Kim also made five progressive passes (second most in the team) and seven ball recoveries, by far the most on the night.
Tottenham have lost some ball carrying ability in the middle of the park and have relied a little more on passing vertically this season and how Arsenal cut those passing lanes off will be key to neutering Tottenham’s threat. It also remains to be seen whether Little and Walti will start or whether Cooney-Cross rotates into the team.
Victoria Pelova feels like the more natural long-term heir to Kim Little but she is injured. While Little continues to start most games, she is certainly being substituted more often this season. Last season her 17 WSL appearances averaged out at 75 minutes per game (three of them were sub appearances after coming back from injury). This season that is down to 65 minutes per WSL appearance. The succession is happening in increments, how we see that model take shape in this game, with another UWCL game on Thursday, will be interesting to see.
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
Subs: 1.Zinsberger 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 16.Kafaji 17.Hurtig 19.Foord 22.Kuhl 25.Blackstenius 26.Wienroither
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The match takes place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 1.45pm on Saturday afternoon and will be screened live on BBC One in the UK.
COMING UP
We will have every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference online shortly after full-time, as well as Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report. There will be the usual tactical analysis piece and Jamie and I will have an Arsenal Women Arsecast for you breaking the game down on Monday.
Slowly but surely, the team is getting back to some form of regularity and normality; I just think that Chelsea and City have stolen a march on us for we persisted with Jonas for too long.
Here’s hoping Rosa Kafaji gets some serious game time, even if not from the start. And that the players’ scoring form continues. I want to see camera shots of a Spurs-supporting child in tears at the end, please.