Tottenham have announced that the Women’s North London derby in the WSL, provisionally scheduled for Sunday, 17 December, will be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The derby was first played there in November 2019 with the Gunners running out 2-0 winners in front of a 38,000 crowd, before they defeated Sp*rs 3-0 behind closed doors at the stadium in March 2021.
Over the last two seasons, Tottenham have opted to play the game at the main ground for their women’s team (The Hive in November 2021 for a 1-1 draw and at Brisbane Road in March when Jonas Eidevall’s side were 5-1 winners). The match in December will now take place at the club’s main stadium after a two year hiatus.
A North London derby awaits 👊
We are delighted to announce that our @BarclaysWSL match against Arsenal in December will take place at @SpursStadium 🤍
More information ⤵️
— Tottenham Hotspur Women (@SpursWomen) October 18, 2023
It marks a big week for Arsenal Women, where they will play Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on December 10 (TV picks still yet TBC for that weekend), before playing Tottenham at Meadow Park in the Conti Cup on Wednesday 13 December, before taking on Sp*rs in the WSL the proceeding weekend.
Arsenal have played the last two WSL home North London derbies at the Emirates, winning 3-0 and 4-0 on those occasions. The game is currently scheduled for Sunday 17 December at 2pm but is subject to change for TV scheduling. The reverse fixture, due to be played Sunday 3 March will be played at the Emirates.
Meanwhile, Vivianne Miedema has been called into the Netherlands squad for their UEFA Nations League double header against Scotland later this month. Miedema has not played since rupturing her ACL in December and is in the final stages of her recovery. Her recall has the full support and co-operation of Arsenal, who reason that full training with a full group in the National Team will be better than staying at London Colney and training with a handful of teammates not on international duty.
Grim, that place stinks
Whilst I understand the commercial reasons for playing the women’s matches at the large stadia, and in all fairness they are entitled to play on the best facilities available, I cannot help feeling that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of what has made women’s football so enjoyable over the last decade or so. At Meadow Park whole families are up close to the action and it is relatively easy to interact with the players after the match. How can a Premier league stadium offer that same interaction and with 40,000 or 50,000 in attendance and will families… Read more »
I get this completely but it’s the price we have to pay to allow women’s football to grow and the players to get the recognition they deserve. Many fans felt the same way about moving from Highbury to the Emirates. But there’s no way around it and it’s worth it ultimately. Also for many fans, the Emirates is much easier to get to. Let’s just cherish this time, while the women’s team still play most of their matches at the smaller, more intimate stadium.
Obviously, we need the pitch to be in perfect condition for the important games. So the AW have to play some at Meadow Park.
Off topic I know but to all those negative masters of doom that were critical of our CL loss to Paris FC on penalties please take note that Paris FC have just knocked out Wolfsburg 5-3 on aggregate too!
Maybe they were not such a pushover after all!
Quite! Paris FC were far too good a team for us to be facing at that stage of the competition and with no preseason.
Is Mr Spock still play for Spurs?
Don’t know about that, but it did upset me in my younger days to learn that Troi was a Spud in real life!
*playing
I understand both points of view. I’m glad that my time of going to women’s matches (since 2018) included the period of playing at smaller grounds (ah, Rush Green or Ruby Grant scoring a hattrick on a field in Crawley!) You felt privileged, and a little bit superior, in finding something that other people weren’t aware of. The explosion of interest over the past couple of years is exciting and well deserved, and I’m happy to go to matches at places like the Emirates. What I particularly like there is the buzz outside the ground with tens of thousands of… Read more »
Hasn’t been North for ever though has it? Arsenal are a South London team on loan to Islington! 🙂 I’ll get my coat!