Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur Women Preview

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal play Spurs at Emirates Stadium in the WSL on Sunday with a crowd of over 50,000 expected in North London. It has been an up and down couple of weeks for Arsenal with league defeat at Stamford Bridge and a League Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester City wedged between a WSL win away at City and an FA Cup 5th round victory against London City Lionesses.

After an intense schedule, the squad had a week to prepare for this game which has been a rare luxury since the resumption of the season in January. Their squad is also now one player bigger with January deadline day loan signing Chloe Kelly finally eligible to play after being ineligible for the double header against her parent club Manchester City and the cup tie against LCL.

This week’s Arsenal Women Newsletter focuses on areas of adaption for Rosa Kafaji before she can become more integrated into the team and why Kyra Cooney-Cross and her own adaption period and improvement should serve as inspiration for Kafaji

awnewsletter.arseblog.com/adaptation/

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— Tim Stillman (@tim-stillman.bsky.social) 10 February 2025 at 09:10

The Gunners have been dealing with health issues in their squad with players like Kim Little, Beth Mead, Lina Hurtig and Rosa Kafaji missing, while players like Caitlin Foord and Lia Walti have had their minutes managed while they play with some muscular issues. Another week’s R&R and the addition of Kelly to the squad makes it look a little more robust.

Arsenal have won all of their WSL home games against Spurs since they were promoted into the top flight in 2019-20 and Renee Slegers and her squad will aim to continue that streak on Sunday. The victory at City fortnight ago has put them in the box seat for second place with a run of winnable games until they face Manchester United at home on the final day of the season, they won’t want any slip ups.

TEAM NEWS

Beth Mead could return to the squad after missing the last two games with a calf strain but Rosa Kafaji misses out. Kim Little is in full training after having surgery on a broken finger and could be in contention. Lina Hurtig is out with a muscular injury. Victoria Pelova made a big step in her recovery this week by playing for the U21s on Wednesday but won’t quite make the squad for this game.

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 22.Nighswonger 28.Ilestedt 62.Reid
Midfielders: 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 8.Mariona 9.Mead 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius

Out: 16.Kafaji 17.Hurtig 21.Pelova

A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘It is a North London derby, it is a rivalry, they will feel it and we will feel it and hopefully we can make them very uncomfortable at the Emirates. But they have been performing well they have been recruiting a few players. We will have to respect their strengths, as with every opposition there are areas to exploit and that is what we are going after on Sunday.

‘They will have another midfield (without Summanen) but they will still play their game and she was obviously a physical presence in midfield but she has other qualities, like smart in her positioning and shots from distance. They will definitely try to replace that with other qualities and every player comes in with their own strengths, we will see what they ask of their midfielders on Sunday.

‘When we go to the Emirates on Sunday we know the pitch is going to be very nice and that is going to help our technical game and our passing game, we definitely look forward to the game because of the pitch. But mostly we look forward to it because it’s a North London derby and we have 55,000 tickets sold at the moment, we are really looking forward to seeing our fans.’

LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met in November at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Arsenal were 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Alessia Russo, Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius. In this fixture last season, a goal from Russo was enough to give the home side a 1-0 victory.

THE OPPOSITION
Tottenham have had something of a strange season this year, they currently sit slap bang in midtable 6th in the league, they have won five of their 12 games so far but have only looked genuinely impressive on a handful of occasions. Having Beth England upfront is a massive boon for Robert Vilahamn’s side, her seven goals in the WSL this season is the same as Russo and Guro Reiten. Only Bunny Shaw (9) has scored more.

The pattern of Tottenham’s season is that they beat the teams in the bottom half but lose to the teams in the top half. After a series of heavy defeats against ‘the big four’ earlier in the season, they corrected a little last time around, only losing by a single goal against Manchester United at home. However, they generated very little threat in that game.

Finding the balance between defence and attack continues to be a big issue against the bigger teams. Disappointing exits in both domestic cups to West Ham and Everton mean that Spurs’ season is now struggling for purpose. They can be defensively weak on their left side, which will be an interesting area to watch in this game.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Chloe Kelly will make her second debut for Arsenal in this game, it is just a question of whether she starts or comes on from the bench. Nevertheless, all eyes will be on Kelly who was left out of Sarina Wiegman’s England squad this week for the first time since Wiegman took charge. It creates an extra motivation for Kelly to take this loan spell by the scruff of the neck.

On the downside, her alienation at City followed by being ineligible for the first three games since signing for Arsenal means that she lacks rhythm. This is the last game before the international break and being omitted from the national team is not helpful for Chloe and her quest to rediscover the rhythm of games.

For Arsenal, it is an incredibly necessary addition. They have been underpowered from wide positions in the matchday squad for a long time now, Lina Hurtig’s continued injury issues mean they have effectively had three wide players for the last two and a half years. It’s meant an increased workload on Mead and Foord and has sometimes cost Arsenal the opportunity to power up from the bench.

PREDICTED LINE UP

Subs: 1.Zinsberger 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 9.Mead 10.Little 18.Kelly 22.Nighswonger 25.Blackstenius 28.Ilestedt

HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The match takes place at Emirates Stadium at 12.30pm on Sunday and will be screened live on BBC Two in the UK. The game will be screened live on ESPN 2 and ESPN+ in the US.

COMING UP
We will have all the usual post-match content, Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report, every word of Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference on the site around an hour after the final whistle. Jamie and I will have a post-match podcast for you on Monday morning and we will have the tactical analysis piece on the site later on Monday or on Tuesday.

Don’t forget that we also have a weekly Arsenal Women newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here absolutely free of charge.