By Tony Attwood
I’ve not received a match preview for the north London derby today from Andrew, our usual correspondent, so I am going to try and put something together myself, just in case you have not noticed that the match is on. If Andrew does forward something I’ll get it up straight away as it will be far more informative than anything I can write.
But meanwhile I’ll do my best and here’s the key news. At 1.30pm today the Women’s team play Tottenham. And it is on BBC1 and BBC I player, and hopefully in other countries as well as the UK.
I can at least give you the league table in case you’ve missed anything…
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 2 | +21 | 18 | |
| 2 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 5 | +13 | 15 | |
| 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 13 | |
| 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 12 | |
| 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 11 | |
| 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8 | |
| 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 7 | |
| 8 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 | -6 | 7 | |
| 9 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 6 | |
| 10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 13 | -7 | 6 | |
| 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 15 | -13 | 1 | |
| 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 17 | -14 | 0 |
In addition to the above we have got to the FA Cup final, and are motoring reasonably well in the Champions League group stage, after a dodgy start in the first game.
Arsenal and Tottenham have met three times before in the League and we have won the lot by a grand accumulated total of 11-1. And of course we are 100% this season, as the table above shows. Plus if one wants to go further in the statistics, taking all competitions into account the two sides have played five competitive matches against each other, and Arsenal has won the lot.
Our manager Jonas Eidevall says all the correct things before a game, for this match, saying of Tottenham, “They’re a well-organised team that are consistent in the way they perform and in what they do. You could see in the game against Manchester United, they kept believing, they kept doing the same things over and over again. And that’s usually a very good way to take points or win football matches. They have a clear identity and players who believe in it.”
But as with the men’s team, Tottenham seem to be driven by a desire to emulate Arsenal, but then are never quite able to make it, and there is something of a feeling around they are trying to do too much too quickly. This game might help us see if that is true.
The problem for teams like Tottenham however is that until this season Arsenal, along with Chelsea and Manchester City, were flying away from the rest.
The table last season ended…
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 22 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 69 | 10 | +59 | 57 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 65 | 13 | +52 | 55 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 22 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 63 | 15 | +48 | 48 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 22 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 44 | 20 | +24 | 47 |
| 5 | Everton | 22 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 39 | 30 | +9 | 32 |
| 6 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 21 | 41 | −20 | 27 |
| 7 | Reading | 22 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 25 | 41 | −16 | 24 |
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 18 | 41 | −23 | 20 |
| 9 | West Ham United | 22 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 21 | 39 | −18 | 15 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 22 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 15 | 47 | −32 | 15 |
| 11 | Birmingham City | 22 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 15 | 44 | −29 | 14[a] |
| 12 | Bristol City (R) | 22 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 18 | 72 | −54 | 12 |
City as we can see, have sunk back somewhat leaving a space to be filled – and of course the bigger clubs have the distraction of the Champions League.
But Tottenham have beaten Manchester City and drawn with Manchester United so that will give them some hope.
And this extra interest in the women’s game has come at a time when the FA is working hard to raise the profile of the women’s game, not least by putting the matches on TV. However there is a feeling that many clubs have only so much time and money to invest into their women’s team – although this does not apply to Arsenal. Our long history of triumphs have put us in good stead, and the change of manager this season has really worked wonders – the personification of “up to the next level”.
But Tottenham are working hard on the PR, and looking at the match previews one might think that it is they and not Arsenal who are the favourites this afternoon.
Kick off is at 1.30pm. I would make a complete idiot of myself if I tried to predict the team, but the Standard says that “For Arsenal, the fact that Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema have been rested of late would suggest they’re likely to start.”
Full marks Roy Keane (for once!) before the England game.
“Harry Kane needs to get over the disappointment of the summer,” he said, “Look, he plays for Tottenham, he should be used to disappointment.”
The Spurs keeper is having an absolute blinder and Miedema not quite on target. 60 minutes gone and it is still almost all Arsenal but still no score
Spurs have scored – first time we have gone behind all season. Comentators going delerious, I’ve turned them off.
Subs. Nobbs for Maanum and Parris for Catley
Spurs have scored – first time we have gone behind all season. Comentators going delerious, I’ve turned them off.
Subs. Nobbs for Maanum and Parris for Catley. Just hope that does the trick. So far we havent been clinical enough with our finishing and are now looking a little rattled at the back.
The referee is now in full on PGMO mode tilting the pitch as far as possible
10 minutes to go and we need to be much better
The referee has just refused to play advantage from which we scored! Awarded a yellow card toBeth Mead for some trumped up charge!
Final throw of the dice Iwabuchi and Foord on. Walti and Mead off
One minute into time added on and Miedema heads home from a corner.
Leah Williamson heads wide
Spurs fouling every time we get the ball. Just like their men
Well done referee just the result that was ordered by your boss
One all final score. Two points dropped
There was an incident in the first half where the referee ran into Beth Mead just as she was lining up to pass the ball to a team-mate.
Beth Mead later appeared to get a yellow-card for taking a free-kick with a moving ball. That must be a first.
The referee did play the advantage after the foul on McCabe, and then blew the whistle just as Jordan Nobbs was about to pull the trigger. Unbelievable.
The Spurs Women’s team are easily the dirtiest I have seen in England. They played the match in a very mean-spirited fashion and took full advantage of the referee’s “goodwill”.
The same referee sent off Beth Mead when we played Man Utd. on March 21 this year. The foul/card statistics for that game were very odd.
Amy Fearn. Remember the name. From the Jonathan Moss school of fair play.
I couldn’t believe how biased the BBC commentators were in this game. Complementing absolutely everything they could about the Spuds and nothing good whatsoever to say about Arsenal. When it was 9 shots to Arsenal and 0 to Spuds, it was all about how well the Spuds had played and when they scored with a mishit shot which ricocheted back and went in of someone’s knee, all we heard was how the Spurs game plan had worked. REALLY?!! So they planned to have no shots on target, allow Arsenal to have double figures, for their goalkeeper to play out of her skin and for them to fluke a lucky goal? That was their game plan was it? Pathetic.
As for Kelly Smith repeatedly mispronouncing Miedema’s name…..what a disgrace, the lot of them. Just like in the men’s game, they can’t even be professional; enough to even pretend they are neutral.
Amy Fearn refereed Tottenham vs. Arsenal last season too. She hasn’t improved since then.