It will be a quiet weekend for Robert Vilahamn and his Tottenham Hotspur Women side with no game pencilled in on the calendar. The FA Cup returns this weekend and unfortunately Spurs are already out of the competition after losing at Everton back in January.
The club will have plenty of time to work on the training pitch, however, and they will be doing all they can to return to winning ways against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, March 16. Vilahamn's side have lost their last four games in all competitions and a win is really needed as we approach the business end of the season.
Spurs did lose 2-1 against Manchester City last Sunday but the boss and players could take plenty from the game despite falling to another defeat. There's more on that and plenty of other things to come out of N17 over the past few days which can be viewed below in football.london's latest Tottenham Hotspur Women round-up.
Injury boost
There was some good news to emerge from Hotspur Way this week as Vilahamn was handed a boost on the injury front. Kit Graham was back on the grass for the first time since suffering an ACL injury during the team's pre-season preparations back in August.
Spending time behind the scenes putting in the hours in hope of returning to full fitness, Graham took to the turf to do a number of laps before heading back inside. Once back in the building, she was given a guard of honour by all her teammates and applauded after taking such a big step in her recovery.
It was a great moment for the player and all connected with the club will be hoping she can return to match action in the not too distant future.
England proud of Tottenham team
Tottenham may have lost against Manchester City 2-1 on Sunday but Bethany England was very proud of the performance the team put in at Brisbane Road. Trailing 1-0 to Vivianne Miedema's goal after 11 minutes, England restored parity later in the first half before Aoba Fujino won it for City 12 minutes from the end.
Despite the frustration of losing late on, England believes the team have now set a level they need to replicate week in, week out.
“Even though we lost, I can stand here, hand on heart, and say how proud of the performance we put in," she said in an interview with Tottenham's official website. “I thought we took the game to City and had so many chances, granted we should have taken them, myself included at the very end, but that’s the level I expect from the team now, the standard, the defensive discipline, the aggressiveness, the first to second balls.
“Obviously it’s disheartening as we don’t want to keep dropping points and we know they’re such a good side, but I felt like we really matched them, so I think that’s the most disappointing thing that we came away short when we could have got something out of the game.”
England in the history books
England's goal against Manchester City proved to be a memorable one for the Tottenham player despite the team falling to defeat. The 30-year-old is now in the Women's Super League history books for her heroics in front of goal.
England's latest strike now means that she is the first player to score 25+ goals for two different teams in the Women's Super League.
Upcoming work
Vilahamn's side will be watching on this weekend as Tottenham do not have a game. The FA Cup returns this weekend and we are now at the quarter-final stage, with Spurs exiting the competition in the fourth round at the end of January.
Despite not having a game, the break in play for Tottenham will give the head coach and his players plenty of time to get to work on the training pitch.
Speaking to Tottenham's official website, he said: “I think it’s going to be two weeks where we can work with the whole squad together, in and out of possession, we want to go into that Brighton game with the fans and make sure we score a lot of goals and start winning games again because we have lost a few in a row against top teams, but it’s now to take the next step.”
What will also help Tottenham in their upcoming games, with a home encounter against Brighton & Hove Albion next on the calendar, is the return of some of the players.
“It’s a big thing," outlined Vilahamn. "The squad we have now and what we want to do with that, we needed competition, the players stepping up and they did that today. Charli [Grant] playing in a new role and did excellent as well, Luana [Buhler] coming in, I think many players showed great quality they have, and for us to develop and close that gap, to compete, we need that.”
Click here to listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham.