We head to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first north London derby of the season in the Barclays Women's Super League on Saturday (1.45pm kick-off).
Since a 4-1 win at home to Valerenga on October 16, we've gone five games unbeaten in all competitions, beating West Ham United 2-0, Brighton & Hove Albion 5-0 and, most recently, Juventus 4-0. We also drew 1-1 at Manchester United during that period.
There were four different goalscorers in Tuesday's UEFA Women's Champions League success in Italy, with Frida Maanum, Stina Blackstenius, Mariona Caldentey and Caitlin Foord all getting in on the act.
goals at either end
After a promising start to the season with a 4-0 win at home to Crystal Palace, Tottenham have won just once in the WSL with a 2-1 victory over West Ham.
They drew 2-2 against Aston Villa, lost 3-2 at home to Liverpool, lost 3-0 away to Manchester United, lost 5-2 away to Chelsea and were beaten 4-0 away to Manchester City.
Those results have left Tottenham seventh in the WSL with seven points from seven games and the leakiest defence in the division with 18 goals conceded.
what the managers say
Slegers: "I was there last year so I did two or three [north London derbies] even. You can see and feel it in the preparation for the game as well how big it is, so I’m looking forward to it a lot.
"I think Tottenham are a strong team. They've been playing a top four opposition in quite a lot of games already, which are tough games. I think they might be stronger than the results they've had so far. So, we're really respectful of them as an opponent, they have some individual qualities. I think they show great mentality and do things together. So, it's going to be a very hard opponent. But again, I think if we keep on bringing what we're bringing, I think we're a top team. So, it's going to be interesting to see the two teams against each other tomorrow."
Vilahamn: “We need a great game plan for Arsenal. It’s not hard to motivate ourselves for the north London derby. We are going to go for it and try to make our fans proud.
"It’s a derby and we’re going to do everything we can to stop them and score some great goals."
team news
Renee Slegers confirmed that there were no fresh injury concerns in her pre-match press conference on Friday.
"There will be changes [from Tuesday] because the Champions League squad is bigger than the WSL squad, so we'll have 20 players in the squad tomorrow," she explained. Everyone is fit who has been fit, but Amanda Ilestedt is away because of her baby and Victoria Pelova is still out."
For Tottenham, Amanda Nilden is back in contention for Saturday’s game after she returned to training this week, while Maite Oroz and Kit Graham remain sidelined.
facts and stats
Kim Little and Leah Williamson could both make their 150th WSL appearance in this game with Jordan Nobbs (157 for Arsenal) and Millie Bright (155 for Chelsea) the only other players in the competition’s history to reach that milestone for a single club.
Laura Wienroither's next appearance will be her 50th in all competitions for us.
We have won seven of our nine games against Tottenham in the WSL and have either kept a clean sheet (5) or conceded exactly once (4) in those meetings with Spurs.
We are unbeaten in our last six WSL away games (W4 D2), our best run on the road without a league defeat since February 2023 (11 games).
Only Vivianne Miedema (8) has scored more WSL goals in the north London derby than Caitlin Foord, who has netted seven times in just eight league appearances against Spurs.
match officials
Emily Heaslip has been appointed to take charge of Saturday's derby. She has seen over six games in all competitions this season, and was last involved in an Arsenal game for our 3-3 draw at home to Spurs in the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup almost a year ago, which we won on penalties.
Referee: Emily Heaslip
Assistant referees: Sian Massey-Ellis and Emily Carney
Fourth official: Ryan Atkin
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