Tottenham 1 (Williams ’65) Arsenal 1 (Miedema ’90+2)
Vivianne Miedema stunned Spurs with a powerful header in injury time as Arsenal snatched a point in the north London derby.
Tottenham looked on course for a first ever WSL victory in the fixture after Rachel Williams’ dogged hustling of the Arsenal defence saw the Gunners fall behind for the first time all season.
It seemed that Rehanne Skinner’s gameplan had been executed to perfection, but despite the disappointment, it ought to still go down as a huge result against the league-leaders.
Skinner’s side had failed to engineer a shot in the first half and despite having under 40 per cent possession, they rode the wave of Beth Mead and Katie McCabe’s relentless attacks from the wing and largely managed to stifle Miedema in the middle.
There is no shame in failing to keep a clean sheet against Jonas Eidevall’s outfit, who were exposed on the counter-attack but who had scored 19 goals in their last five matches in all competitions.
Arsenal felt they might have had more too. Both Mead and McCabe did hit the woodwork and Arsenal felt they were denied an equaliser when Ashleigh Neville brought down Jordan Nobbs and referee Amy Fearn failed to award the advantage despite the move ending with Nobbs putting the ball in the net.
Key performances
Ashleigh Neville (Spurs)
Neville may have been guilty of an awful miss on the rebound from Shelina Zadorsky from close range but she consistently showed Miedema onto her weaker foot.
Kit Graham (Spurs)
Graham was pivotal to Spurs’ movement when they did get the ball and forced Manuela Zinsberger into parrying the ball to Williams for the opening goal.
Katie McCabe (Arsenal)
Spurs did well to force Arsenal into the channels and while Leah Williamson provided a more direct option, McCabe deserved a goal for her attempt from the edge of the box and consistently caused Neville problems.
Beth Mead (Arsenal)
Mead was unfortunate not to score from a free kick out wide, her set piece miraculously staying out thanks to the fingertips of Tinja-Riikka Korpela.
Tinja-Riikka Korpela (Tottenham)
There were a handful of fine saves from Spurs’ stand-in goalkeeper, the best of them two double-footed stops from Miedema and Mead.
Shelina Zadorsky (Tottenham)
Zadorsky organised Spurs’ defence from the middle and while sitting so deep could have backfired as they invited Arsenal’s pressure, the Canadian ensured they didn’t capitulate.
What they said
Via BBC One’s live coverage
Rehanne Skinner: “A little bit [gutted], it’s the last five minutes fo the game you’re hoping you can keep doing the thingsyou ve been doing all gam to get that result
Rachel Williams: “Hard work and graft. Only a few weeks ago, we played Arsenal and got peppered 5-1… For me, our ‘keeper was man of the match. If someone had started me a point at the start of the game I’d have took your hand off. We’re becoming the team people are excited to watch. You never know what you’re going to get with us. Sometimes I don’t even know what I’m going to do on the ball!”
Ashleigh Neville: “The one I missed I’ll look back at, but the girls knew we’d be under pressure and Arsenal have a lot of quality going forward.”
Jonas Eidevall: “It’s a performance that was stronger than the result today – we obviously created a lot of opportunities. We get into a difficult situation conceding the goal, we know there aren’t many minutes less and that creates stress and creates belief in Tottenham.”
Are Spurs top four contenders?
Tottenham have still lost just once in the WSL this season (a 2-1 reverse at Brighton) and while Skinner is reluctant to talk of closing the gap on the big three, they are still just five points behind Arsenal – and came tantalisingly close to making that two.
Manchester City’s poor start may well have opened up an opportunity that it was once assumed would be seized by either Manchester United or Everton.
Instead, it is Skinner’s Spurs who are rustling feathers at the top and who – courtesy of a heavy defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup – have no other distractions. Eidevall had to make five changes from the Champions League in midweek but their rivals have a much clearer calendar.
The aim was to consolidate on last season’s progress rather than eyeing their own push for Europe but there is no reason why, on current form, Tottenham cannot aspire to stay where they are for the duration.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3Ff63Zs
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