It’s been a hot minute since we’ve written on Spurs Women’s recent results — sorry about that. But with the second of two back-to-back North London Derbies coming on Saturday, it’s worth a quick recap to get you caught up on two recent matches, one in the WSL and another in the Conti Cup.
Spurs Women hosted Manchester United in league action last weekend, and made the short trip to Boreham Wood to face Arsenal in the Cup last night. Here’s how it went.
Tottenham 0-4 Manchester United (WSL)
Like their male counterparts, Tottenham Women have endured an injury crisis of their own in recent weeks, losing both of their starting Finland international midfielders in Eveliina Summanen and Olga Ahtinen. Robert Vilahamn moved Angharad James from fullback to her preferred central midfield position, partnering her with Ria Percival. Spurs battled hard and gave United a match in the first half, but went down a half hour in after a defensive miscue allowed Melvine Malard to latch onto a cross and fire past Becky Spencer.
Things fell apart in the second half and United put three more past Spencer en route to a 4-0 win behind a second goal from Malard and late goals from Ella Toone and Hayley Ladd.
The exciting news from this match was, however, the return of Beth England, who made her first start of the season and played 56 minutes before being subbed off for Rosella Ayane.
Despite a strong start, Spurs are now winless in their last five league matches. Funny how both Spurs teams are following somewhat similar tracks, huh?
Arsenal 3-3 (4-3) Tottenham (Conti Cup)
Tottenham Women have faced Arsenal 14 times in club history, and have only ever gotten one result a 1-1 draw in the WSL in 2021. They nearly got another one yesterday in the group stages of the Continental Cup after a 3-3 thriller at Boreham Wood, Arsenal Women’s home ground. Spurs went ahead in this match three times thanks to a brace from Jessica Naz and a goal from Martha Thomas, but each time Arsenal were able to fight back and equalize thanks to goals from Stina Blackstenius, Frida Maanum and an own goal from Spurs’ Amy Turner off a free kick.
With back to back matches against their arch rivals and a short turnaround, Vilahamn rotated, putting Barbora Votikova in for Becky Spencer in goal, and handing starts to Kit Graham and Ramona Petzelberger. This match was a thriller — Arsenal had much of the ball but Spurs were clinical on the counterattack, hitting balls up the pitch quickly and scoring with incisive shots. Naz played one of her best ever matches for Spurs against a strong (but rotated) Arsenal team, and it looked for a while as though Tottenham might pull off the victory before Turner headed it into her own net late in the match.
Conti Cup rules are odd — matches that end in a draw immediately go to penalties, with the shootout winner gaining two points and the losing side earning a point. In the shootout, Naz had her first shot saved by Arsenal keeper Sabrina D’Angelo and Kit Graham had her shot hit the underside of the crossbar and bounce out. Votikova saved Caitlin Foorde’s penalty to give Spurs a chance, but it wasn’t enough.
The result was encouraging heading into Saturday’s WSL North London Derby. In another Conti Cup oddity, due to uneven group sizes, progression is based on points/game rather than total points. Placed in a five team group, the Arsenal result gives them more likely to progress out of their group in second behind Arsenal, though Spurs will need to make sure and not slip up against Southampton in the final group stage match on January 25.
Tottenham host Arsenal in league action this coming Saturday (7 a.m. ET / 12 p.m. GMT) at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in what should be a fantastic atmosphere for a potential upset. The match will be televised on Sky Sports in the UK, and on CBS Sports Network in the United States.