The rumbling drum that signals the growth of women’s football is growing louder by the week. A crowd of 60,050 – the second highest in Women’s Super League history – at a sold-out Emirates Stadium watched Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat of Tottenham.
Arsenal’s steady building of an active and engaged audience for their women’s team is the envy of the league, and a desire to deliver for these new fans on the pitch is growing.
The Gunners had to beat Tottenham here to remain within three points of the league leaders Manchester City and keep their Women’s Super League title hopes alive. They did, Alessia Russo’s second-half goal the difference, but it was far from easy.
There were three changes to the Arsenal side that started the 3-1 home win against Manchester United before the international break. Manuela Zinsberger was back in goal, with Sabrina D’Angelo at the Gold Cup with Canada, and the forwards Caitlin Foord and Alessia Russo also returned. Vivianne Miedema was omitted entirely following the news that she has undergone minor surgery on her knee, but Leah Williamson was deemed fit enough to be on the bench.
Robert Vilahamn also made three alterations with Bethany England dropping to the bench, Becky Spencer back in goal and Ash Neville and Jess Naz returned to the starting XI, following their 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa before the international break.
Arsenal were dominant in the first half, with 63% possession but they had nothing to show for it at half-time, struggling to find a way through Tottenham’s deep block.
It was a familiar story, with Martha Thomas’s sublime breakaway goal having handed Tottenham a first win against their north London rivals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in December.
Despite spending much of the first 45 minutes in this match camped in the opposition half and, having had 10 corners, the Gunners had just two shots on target to Tottenham’s three.
It took 23 minutes for the visiting team to carve out their first meaningful chance and it fell to the dynamic England Under-23 player Naz, who cut inside from the left and smashed her effort off the crossbar. Arsenal were toothless and as the minutes ticked on Spurs grew in confidence on the break.
Their tactics were no secret, Vilahamn had detailed the blueprint before kick-off, when he said: “We know we can beat them, we know how to beat them so we are very focused, very present to defend well and take the chances we get.”
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Having been frustrated in the first half, it took Arsenal just five minutes into the second to lash into the net in front of the clock end to re-energise their title challenge.
The mercurial Kim Little who found the pass to stretch the organised Spurs backline, she pinged the ball to Beth Mead at the far post, the forward was brought down by Amanda Nildén and perhaps should have been given a penalty, but it mattered little as Russo was on hand to pop in the loose ball.
With 15 minutes left to play it was still Arsenal’s only shot of the half, though, and Jonas Eidevall made a triple substitution to inject some energy and incisiveness into his side with Stina Blackstenius, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Williamson, the lifelong Gunner making her first appearance in front of a sold-out Emirates Stadium crowd, entering.
The closing period was increasingly tense for the home team as Vilahamn’s side sensed a point could be grabbed. Tottenham upped their intensity but Arsenal clung on, delivering a seventh home win in a row.
It was Arsenal’s second back-to-back full house at the club’s main stadium and the club now have the top six WSL record attendances. With a maximum possible crowd of 53,400 for the Premier League Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium later in the day, it was the biggest football crowd of the weekend, bettered only by the 61,339 that watched the Tottenham men’s team that beat Crystal Palace on Saturday.
