Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal Women: match preview

Arsenal play Tottenham in the WSL this weekend. This weekend is the Women’s Football Weekend, with matches spread out and enticing fixtures on show to take advantage of the men’s international break. A number of fixtures are in men’s stadiums, but Arsenal will play Spurs at the Hive, the home of Barnet, and Tottenham’s usual home ground. Perhaps after seeing Arsenal win three matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by a combined score of 9-0, Spurs didn’t want to add to that particular history of the Tottenham.

Tottenham enter the weekend third in the WSL, with some credible results: a 2-1 win over Manchester City (though controversial because of Rosella Ayane’s handball winner) and a deserved 1-1 draw with Manchester City last weekend. Rehanne Skinner has maintained Tottenham’s defensive solidity, with Spurs having the second best defensive record in the league thus far, while looking to add more scoring threat.

Given Manchester City’s poor form, Everton’s lacklustre start, and Manchester United’s stop and start campaign, Spurs have, by the nature of their start to the campaign, a shot at finishing third, in the Champions League spot. Arsenal, though, present Spurs with a different test. When the two met in September, in the 2020-21 Women’s FA Cup quarterfinal, Spurs took a shock early lead, but Arsenal’s pressure and quality turned the tide fairly quickly, and Arsenal ran out 5-1 winners with Vivianne Miedema not playing a single minute. The expectation is very much that Arsenal will continue their perfect start to the league campaign.

Team news:

Arsenal flew back from Denmark on Wednesday night after the 5-1 Champions League win against Køge. It’s a quick turnaround, and a degree of rotation is to be expected, especially as Lotte Wubben-Moy and Mana Iwabuchi were unused subs, and Kim Little, Beth Mead, and Katie McCabe were all second half substitutes.

Tobin Heath has a calf strain, and Jen Beattie has been ill.

Key player:

Vivianne Miedema made her first Arsenal start in nearly a month on Wednesday against Køge, and played fairly well despite not scoring. Miedema had a couple of good chances and also played a superb crossfield ball to Beth Mead in the build-up to Jordan Nobbs’ goal. Yet, Miedema hasn’t scored in the WSL since the end of September, in the 5-0 win over Manchester City. It is by no means a long drought, but it is unlike her, and she only has one goal in her last 383 minutes in all competitions for Arsenal. It has not become a problem, because Arsenal are spreading the goals around, but it will obviously be better if Arsenal’s star striker starts scoring again. In the past, Tottenham have been obliging opponents: Miedema has six goals in five games in all competitions against Spurs, including a hat trick, and last year’s goal of the season.

Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): 1. Zinsberger; 16. Maritz, 6. Williamson, 3. Wubben-Moy, 7. Catley; 12. Maanum, 10. Little; 9. Mead, 23. Iwabuchi, 15. McCabe; 11. Miedema
Substitutes: 18. Williams, 4. Patten, 8. Nobbs, 13. Wälti, 14. Parris, 19. Foord, 20. Boye, 29. Goldie, 77. Heath

WHAT: Tottenham Hotspur Women vs Arsenal Women, FA WSL

WHERE: The Hive Stadium, Harrow

WHEN: Saturday, November 13th 5:30 AM PST | 8:30 AM EST | 1:30 PM GMT

WATCH: NBC Sports Live Extra (streaming US), atafootball.com (streaming US), BBC One (UK) BBC iPlayer (streaming UK) | FAQs for other countries