And here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report from The Hive.
Tottenham manager Rehanne Skinner speaks to the BBC.
It’s a massive point for us so we have to take the positives out of it. You’ve got to want to work hard and do the hard stuff to win. We work on that a lot. We showed that today and I’m really pleased with the players and proud of them. We weren’t very positive in possession in the first half and I was a bit disappointed with that. We were being too negative on the ball. We were more positive in the second half and we created some more chances.
Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall speaks to the BBC.
I think the performance was stronger than the result. We should have scored more goals and that we have to be disappointed with. Even after we scored the equaliser we had one more opportunity to win the game and that I think shows real strength. There were not a lack of goalscoring opportunities. This performance reminds me of previous performances in the WSL with one difference - that we didn’t score on opportunities.
Here’s the top of the WSL table.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal Women | 7 | 21 | 19 |
| 2 | Chelsea Women | 6 | 13 | 15 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 7 | 4 | 14 |
| 4 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 5 | Man Utd Women | 6 | 1 | 11 |
Ashleigh Neville of Tottenham speaks to the BBC.
We love the games here and the crowds coming to watch. It’s a big game so we are up for a derby. It’s one I will look back at. We lost 5-1 in the cup and so to draw 1-1 shows we are going in the right direction.
The tweets are in.
A late point thanks to @VivianneMiedema pic.twitter.com/cxslo5kjA8
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 13, 2021
The points are shared at the Hive.
— Tottenham Hotspur Women (@SpursWomen) November 13, 2021
⚪ 1-1 🔴 pic.twitter.com/q4w6SC1vWO
Full-time: Tottenham 1-1 Arsenal
That’s that. A memorable North London derby in which Tottenham were so close to a first ever defeat of Arsenal. Up stepped Miedema, as usual, but will a draw be enough for Arsenal? Your move, Chelsea.
90+5 min: Arsenal push on and on. Tottenham rocking on their heels.
90+4 min: Arsenal free-kick from the right, and Miedema’s volley is blocked. Then Leah Williamson nods over from a Nobbs cross. All Arsenal. Spurs clinging on.
90+3 min: So tough on Tottenham while Jonas Eidevall, the Arsenal manager, wants more. He made that gesture of pointing to the head. “You’ve got to use your heads,” as Graham Taylor used to say.
Goal! Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham (Miedema, 90+2)
The corner comes in and Miedema heads in over Ashleigh Neville. A big goal.
Updated
90+1 min: Some desperate defending taking place now. Some equally desperate attacking, too.
90 min: Foord spins into action and there is chaos, only for Little to hit the ball straight at Korpela. Five minutes are added on.
89 min: To correct earlier spellings, it’s Ashleigh Neville rather than Ashley Neville. She’s been excellent and might have scored a goal, though will she rue that miss?
87 min: Graham runs down the wing, as she has done with great success as Tottenham have pushed forward. Addison gets chance to shoot after some good work and fires wide. Arsenal’s gate is open at the back.
85 min: Two Arsenal changes. Foord and Iwabuchi on, Mead and Walti off. That’s an awful lot of attackers on the field.
84 min: Korpela takes her time over a goal-kick. We are in the final stages now and a famous win is in sight for Tottenham. They might have had another when Graham picked out Ayane, but hit the ball at the keeper.
82 min: Controversy here! The referee stops play just as Arsenal looked in. Jordan Nobbs looked through but instead the ref went back to book Ashley Neville. Beth Mead is booked for dissent.
80 min: Oh Tottenham. That was close. Simon rattles a shot wide that had Zinsberger beaten but goes wide of the post. A sub is made. That’s Simon’s last action, as it is for Clemaron.
77 min: Holdup play from Graham in Tottenham’s attack, and she goes down down holding her head. She took a whack to the chops.
75 min: Little speeds down the flank and is tackled. Arsenal corner, and very little comes of it. Little clatters into Percival and feels the pain. Spurs have not taken any prisoners.
74 min: That loud Arsenal fan is trying to rouse the away contingent. The crowd are more interested in the action in the Spurs box, where Arsenal are trying to dig out a shooting chance.
72 min: Tottenham force a corner, and Arsenal look a tad ragged. Oh my. Ashley Neville should have scored after Zadorsky’s shot is deflected into her path. Oh no! That surely would have been that.
70 min: Neville, who has worked so hard all game for Tottenham, is down, having taken something of a jolt. She will be ok, once she gets her breath back.
68 min: Arsenal subs: Nobbs on, Parris on, Catley off, Maanum off. Attacking subs made there.
66 min: Well. That was what Tottenham had planned, and Arsenal have been inviting. The back door opened and Williams the ex-plasterer was never going to pass up that chance.
Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Updated
Goal! Arsenal 0-1 Tottenham (Williams, 65)
Arsenal behind for the first time this season. It was a scramble. Rachel Williams forces it home after her first shot is saved.
Updated
64 min: Tottenham sub: Ubogagu off, and Addison on for Spurs, to add some speed.
Updated
63 min: Spurs continue to defend well though are giving up more chances. Something must break, as Ian Curtis once said.
62 min: An absorbing game has the fans making plenty of noise, and there’s another shot from Maanum, whose shot is saved by the excellent Korpela.
60 min: Ubogagu for Tottenham cuts in from the right, and then shoots. The angle was too narrow to score from.
Updated
59 min: Maritz, stepping forward for Arsenal, hits the ball over the bar.
58 min: Another fine stop from Korpela - or was it Neville - as Miedema escapes. At the other end, Zinsberger has to come out and clear the ball. She has to stay alert.
56 min: Arsenal stepping it up. A goal seems likely to come, but for who? Little is bundled over by Clemaron, who is already on a yellow card.
54 min: Rachel Williams escapes the offside trap but her cross is cleared, setting up an Arsenal attack and Miedema shoots over the bar.
52 min: A mistake from the Tottenham goalkeeper almost lets in Miedema but Korpela makes up for that by then making an incredible save from Mead. Down and low, a Schmeichel-like starfish stops what looks a certain goal.
51 min: McCabe was not happy about that. She looked very angry. Tottenham are frustrating Arsenal.
50 min: Kym Little heads away a Tottenham corner. McCabe escapes and is then mowed down by Clemaron, who gets a yellow card. It was a Fernandinho-type tactical foul.
Updated
48 min: Tottenham have much of the ball in this first half. Perhaps the Arsenal plan is to hit on the counter but perhaps Spurs are playing better.
47 min: Tottenham have a corner, what can they find? It causes a flurry of panic before it’s cleared. And Arsenal come away with the ball.
46 min: We are back underway, and that loud Arsenal fan seems to be making noise again. He went quiet towards the end of the first half. Can his team find a goal?
Half-time: Tottenham 0-0 Arsenal
Mission accomplished for Tottenham. Arsenal have hit the woodwork twice and practically had all the ball, but it’s all square in the North London derby.
45+1 min: Miedema has a shot blocked. The pressure continues but so does the Tottenham defending.
45 min: Leah Williamson is called into rare action at the back as three minutes are added on at the end of the first half.
44 min: A chance for Arsenal as Miedema finds space but her pass takes McCabe wide and Tottenham can clear it again. Then Kym Little, who has been quiet, steals the ball and rockets it at Korpela, who saves at the second time of asking.
42 min: Off the woodwork again. Katie McCabe from the left wallops a shot off the crossbar.
41 min: Clemaron is back in as part of that massed Spurs defence as Arsenal push on and on. Half-time is not too far away.
39 min: A concussion protocol is carried out. Clemaron looks very dazed indeed.
37 min: Miedema in full effect, spinning and weaving, but then when she finds room for the shot it’s cleared. The followup is smashed into Clemaron’s face, and she’s down. That looks like a potential concussion.
36 min: Tottenham edging forward. Rachel Williams, the veteran, is getting through a heavy workload.
34 min: Arsenal get that Tottenham corner clear, and Zadorsky’s attempt to get the ball back in doesn’t pay off. Then Miedema is fouled in the centre of the park. Free-kick to Arsenal but Korpela does well to claim. The goalkeeper has had a fine game.
33 min: Arsenal getting frustrated? Neville was on the end of a flailing elbow there. And they concede a corner at the other end.
31 min: Miedema tries to get on the end of things but again, some excellent Spurs defending stops her.
29 min: Tottenham hanging on a bit but have defended so well so far. This has been an examination of the quality of Arsenal’s attack.
27 min: Wow! Free-kick, and Beth Mead, from the edge of the box, smashes the ball off the keeper and off the bar. It looked to have bounced in.
25 min: Great tackle by work to rob McCabe. That’s been quite a battle so far and one that the Tottenham defender is winning.
23 min: Tottenham try to push up a little, they have been under some heavy pressure for a while now.
Updated
21 min: Good save from Korpela, as Miedema hits the ball low and hard, and the Finnish keeper shows her experience.
20 min: Arsenal go close, as Maanum heads a corner wide. That’s the best chance since that early Mead effort.
18 min: Neville, the Tottenham defender, comes across to stop McCabe in her tracks.
16 min: Tottenham win a free-kick, after Ubogagu is fouled. A training ground move is attempted but fails. That doesn’t release the pressure and Graham threatens only for Arsenal to clear the danger.
15 min: Jonas Eidevall is not too impressed with what he sees. He seems like an intense chap. His team have not been too fluent so far but have begun to dominate.
13 min: Arsenal putting the pressure on now, and Tottenham having to sit back and soak it up. Mead’s cross into the middle is cleared but the ball keeps coming back at them.
12 min: Little scampers down the right, but Tottenham hold their line and Arsenal are struggling to find spaces. Can they keep this up?
10 min: A foul on McCabe gives Arsenal a free-kick chance. The singing from the fans continues to be awful. And the free-kick finds no-one in particular.
8 min: A tackle on Miedema leads to an Arsenal cross that’s hit too deep, and there’s an injury. Williams and Clemaron clash and it’s Clemaron is hurt. The commentary tells me that Rachel Williams is a former plasterer. Like Frank Sinatra and Sean Connery, no less.
6 min: Tottenham passing it around the back in the club’s finest - and most risky - traditions. After that early Mead chance the Arsenal pressure has not revealed itself as yet.
4 min: Tottenham rather more on the front foot than would be expected, pushing up on Arsenal. Typical derby stuff, you might say.
3 min: Those Gunners fans continue to be rowdy, as do their Tottenham equivalent. There’s one Arsenal fan with a foghorn of a voice. He may be a little hoarse in the morning.
1 min: After the players take the knee, away we go. Can Tottenham, two changes made since last week’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United, pull off a famous victory? The opening portents are not good. Beth Mead goes close and it takes some desperate defending to clear the ball.
Before we can begin, a minute’s silence is held. Servicemen and servicewomen are on the field. Arsenal fans seem in lusty voice before it begins. Thankfully, they stay quiet after that, and then comes the Last Post.
The Tottenham manager, Rehanne Skinner, speaks. It’s her birthday today.
For us it’s about every game, and we want to keep performing, and we hope to keep getting points. A win on any day is a fantastic result, it’s a really special day, of the type we want to be involved in.
The Arsenal manager, Jonas Eidevall, speaks after making five changes from midweek.
Nothing to do with injuries, a lot to do with the playing schedule. This is the starting lineup we think fits best today.
Those teams again in analogue fashion
Tottenham: Tinja-Riika Korpela, Neville, Bartrip, Zadorsky, Harrop, Percival, Clemaron, Ubogagu, Graham, Simon, Williams. Subs: Morgan, Green, Ale, Addison, Ayane, Heeps
Arsenal: Zinsberger, Maritz, Williamson, Wubben-Moy, Catley, Maanum, Walti, Little, Mead, Miedema, McCabe. Subs: Patten, Nobbs, Parris, Williams, Foord, Boye Sorensen, Iwabuchi, Goldie, Heath
Arsenal come into this game after a huge Champions League win in midweek.
Suzanne Wrack previewed this weekend’s derby.
Here are the teams
🔴 NORTH LONDON DERBY XI 🔴 pic.twitter.com/tEs0suzxxR
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 13, 2021
🚨 Your team to take on Arsenal 👇 pic.twitter.com/PsZ8rV8Qik
— Tottenham Hotspur Women (@SpursWomen) November 13, 2021
Preamble
A North London derby, and one being played at the top of the WSL table with Tottenham having a fine season so far in third, and Arsenal revived and leading the league under the new management of Jonas Eidevall. Some stats: Tottenham Hotspur have lost all three of their FA WSL matches against Arsenal by an aggregate score of 11-1, while Arsenal have never conceded an away goal against Spurs in the WSL. Barnet’s The Hive is the venue - White Hart Lane could have hosted this perhaps. Tottenham’s task is a tough one, as Arsenal have a 100 percent record and are in free-scoring form but maybe Rehanne Skinner’s team can pull off one of the surprises of the season.
Kick-off is at 1.30pm. Join me.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal Women | 6 | 21 | 18 |
| 2 | Chelsea Women | 6 | 13 | 15 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 6 | 4 | 13 |
| 4 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 5 | Man Utd Women | 6 | 1 | 11 |
