Tottenham Women 0-0 Arsenal: Spurs earn deserved point in home North London Derby

Tottenham Hotspur Ladies hosted their arch-rivals Arsenal within the first Ladies’s North London Derby of the season on Sunday. The 2 groups got here into the match stage on factors with 15 every, with Arsenal holding fourth within the desk by aim differential. In a hard-fought recreation that had moments of end-to-end attacking however finally settled right into a defensive battle, neither workforce may discover the again of the online and the sport led to an excellent, and finally truthful, scoreless draw.

Tottenham head coach Martin Ho began an an identical lineup to the one which misplaced 4-2 away at London Metropolis final weekend, a choice that raised a number of eyebrows however that was vindicated within the first half. Spurs membership captain Beth England as soon as once more began on the bench, with Tinka Tandberg beginning in a entrance three together with Jessica Naz and Matilda Vinberg. Drew Spence, Eveliina Summanen, and Olivia Holdt performed within the midfield behind, with a again 4 of Toko Koga, Clare Hunt, Amanda Nilden, and Ashleigh Neville, with Lize Kop between the sticks.

The match was a reasonably even affair, and entertaining with each groups seeking to push ahead and create alternatives. Spurs regarded harmful early, however allowed Arsenal to settle, with the guests holding a lot of the possession benefit within the first half. That mentioned, whereas Arsenal had a lot of the ball, Spurs’ protection ceaselessly annoyed the guests; Arsenal held the shot benefit with 13 to Spurs 4, however solely 4 pictures on the right track, and few of them troubling Kop.

Tottenham struggled to create assaults of their very own, nonetheless they did look threatening on the counterattack at occasions. That business not often led to a shot, however Spurs didn’t appear to be a workforce that was attempting to bunker. Within the final ten minutes, Tottenham appeared content material to attempt to see out the scoreless draw, hoofing the ball defensively into area as their defenders drained.

Spurs did their finest to nick a winner late by bringing England in for Tandberg at 60’, and Ho introduced Olga Ahtinen for Summanen and Martha Thomas for Vinberg at 75’. Lena Gunning-Williams additionally made a late cameo simply earlier than further time, coming in for Holdt.

The match felt like a kind of video games the place each groups have been ready for the opposite workforce to screw up. In the end, neither workforce did, a minimum of in any manner that actually mattered. The ultimate rating was a 0-0 draw, and Tottenham will come away feeling happier in regards to the consequence, however feeling like they may’ve carried out extra to take all three.

Listed here are my match reactions from a extremely entertaining scoreless draw within the Ladies’s North London Derby.