It’s the first north London derby of the season on Sunday as we face Tottenham Hotspur at Brisbane Road in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
We’re looking to get back to winning ways following Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat away to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, and last weekend’s 1-1 draw at home to Chelsea.
The table has us level on points with our local rivals ahead of the weekend, with goal difference the key to separating the sides so far.
POINTS ON THE BOARD
With five wins and three defeats from their opening eight matches, it’s been a mostly positive beginning to 2025/26 for Spurs, who ended the previous campaign second from bottom.
The turnaround in form began with back-to-back wins and clean sheets over West Ham United and Everton at the start of the season, before losing 5-1 at home ot Manchester City.
Martin Ho’s side responded with victories against Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion, but did suffer a 1-0 loss at Chelsea.
Following a 2-1 win at home to Liverpool in early November, Spurs lost their last game 4-2 away to newly promoted side London City Lionesses.
Summer signing Cathinka Tandberg is their top scorer in the topflight with four goals so far this season.
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY
Slegers: “They play different, I think they have some players that are performing well, they’re more aggressive in the way they play, they go high, they go player for player, they want to win balls in the opposition half and that’s different from what they did last year.
"So they’ve been performing really well, so we have to be really smart with how we manage the game and what spaces we try to attack in the game. But yeah, if I look at how the team came back in today, we’re full of energy and belief going into the next one." - every word of Renée’s pre-Spurs press conference.
Read more Every word of Renée’s pre-Spurs press conference
Ho: “The derby is a new experience for me, but I'm really excited for it. We're ready to respond in the right way.
"It's the most we've sold at Brisbane Road, so it's amazing from the supporters to come down and support the team, and we'll try and put in a big performance for them."
TEAM NEWS
There was plenty of discussion surrounding Leah Williamson in Renée Slegers' pre-match press conference, after she was spotted in training.
Our head coach explained: "You’ve seen her today in training with us, that’s the progress she’s making, she’s been more and more involved with the team and team training which is really, really positive. She feels good and she has a couple of steps to take still, we expect maybe somewhere in December, somewhere in the next block we might see her again if everything goes to the plan. She’s doing well at the moment."
As for Kim Little, she's expected to return after the next international break.
Ella Morris, Luana Buhler and Maite Oroz are the long-term absentees for Spurs.
FACTS AND STATS
We won both of our first two away games against Tottenham Hotspur in the WSL in 2019/20 (2-0) and 2020/21 (3-0) but haven’t won two in a row at Spurs since. Last season we won this fixture 3-0.
Read more Remember these five top WSL trips to Tottenham?
The north London derby is the most played derby fixture in WSL history that has never seen a red card brandished for either side (11 meetings). However, with 41 cautions shown, this is the fixture that averages more yellow cards per game than any other to have been played at least twice overall (3.7).
We have scored at least 12 more goals than any other side in the WSL in 2025, with our 60 goals from 20 games a tally we have only bettered in one previous calendar year, netting 69 in 23 matches in 2018.
We have recorded the most build up attacks in the WSL this season (28), while only Leicester City (1) have recorded fewer than Tottenham Hotspur (2). We have had the most touches in the opposition box this season (319) and only Manchester City (113) have had more shots from inside the box (106).
Only Vivianne Miedema (8) has scored more goals in WSL north London derbies than Caitlin Foord (7), with Spurs the only opponent the Aussie has scored more than five times against in the English topflight.
Read more 4 stats you must know before we play Tottenham
MATCH OFFICIALS
Emily Heaslip has been appointed to take charge of Sunday’s derby. She was last involved in one of our matches when we beat Crystal Palace 4-0 away from home in March.
Referee: Emily HeaslipAssistant referees: David Middleton and Phoebe HornerFourth official: Kirsty Dowle
LAST TIME WE MET
We extended our north London derby home unbeaten run by putting five past Spurs without reply in February last season, with 56,784 supporters in attendance at Emirates Stadium.
Alessia Russo forced a Clare Hunt own goal and Mariona Caldentey doubled our lead in the first half, before Frida Maanum netted our third and Russo picked out the bottom left corner for four after half-time.
Emily Fox rocketed one into the top left corner from long range late on to end the game in style.
HOW TO WATCH
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK. For supporters elsewhere, take a look at which broadcasters are showing the action all around the world.
Read more How to watch Tottenham v Arsenal Women on TV
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