Arsenal Women beat Tottenham Hotspur Women 2-0 on the inaugural Women’s Football Weekend, as second-half goals from captain Kim Little and Vivianne Miedema were enough to see the Gunners earn the derby bragging rights in front of a record crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It was a special game of firsts for these two sides – the first Women’s Football Weekend, the first North London Derby in the Women’s Super League, the first time Spurs had played at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A crowd of 38,262 filled the stands to set a new Women’s Super League record with considerable support out for Karen Hills and Juan Amoros’s newly-promoted side.
The occasion looked like it may have overawed Spurs as they started hesitantly and Arsenal passed it around with composure. Arsenal’s possession led to minimal chances, however, as Kit Graham and Rianna Dean pressed Jen Beattie and Leah Williamson well, making it hard for Arsenal to play out from the back, as is so often their trademark. Spurs’ plan to stay compact and hit Arsenal on the counter was eventually starting to wear the Gunners down and the game opened up after 15 minutes with Beth Mead’s driving run producing a good chance that flew narrowly wide, while at the other end Kit Graham could only shoot straight at Manuela Zinsburger when played through one-on-one, producing the best chance of the half.
Another brilliant chance fell to Graham on the half-hour mark after Chloe Peplow robbed Jordan Nobbs and played her through. She did well to work some space on to her right footed and curled a shot that just missed the inside of the right-hand post. Shortly after, Arsenal’s Ireland captain Katie McCabe picked up a cut back in the box from Van de Donk and drove a shot that cannoned off the crossbar. The whistle blew on an entertaining first half, with Arsenal below par from a disciplined Spurs side who had the better of the chances.
In the second half, Arsenal manager Montemurro tinkered with his formation with Jordan Nobbs dropping deeper and Kim Little looking to carry the ball further up the pitch. The Arsenal and Scotland captain produced a moment of quality on 66 minutes with a wonderful goal fitting of the occasion. Anna Filbey got the better of Miedema in the air only for the loose ball to be brilliantly chested down and controlled by Little, who shimmied and darted her way to the edge of the box and rifled a shot into the bottom right-hand corner. The goal looked to have deflated Spurs, who struggled to create more chances. Anna Filbey will be having nightmares after her loose back pass on 81 minutes was pounced upon by Miedema, who calmly took the ball around Spencer and planted a shot into the roof of the net in front of an ecstatic 3,000-strong travelling support.
After the game, Montemurro paid tribute to Spurs in their first season in the WSL. “Today was a real indication of where the league is. Every game is a challenge,” he said, after admitting his side were well under par for much of the first half. Spurs head coach Karen Hills reflected on her decade-long involvement with the club and how far they have come. “I used to make the sandwiches, I used to pay the referees out of my own pocket, I had to learn to drive the minibus because no one else would do it. We want to make occasions like this the norm for women’s football.”
On a successful and much-hyped Women’s Football Weekend, it wasn’t only the North London Derby that broke attendance records. Liverpool played at Anfield for the first time and hosted the Merseyside Derby, drawing a crowd of 23,500, narrowly losing 1-0. The most promising attendance stat, however, may fall to Chelsea – they beat Casey Stoney’s newly-promoted Manchester United side 1-0 in front of 4,790, setting a record attendance for a Women’s Super League game not in a Premier League stadium. Elsewhere, Brighton beat Birmingham 3-0 at the Amex Staidum in front of a crowd of 4,130. The cumulative attendance on the first Women’s Football Weekend totalled 74,247. To put that into perspective, approximately 107,000 attended all of the games last season.
The question for the FA now will be how to keep the crowds coming when the teams return to their regular grounds. Manchester City vs West Ham United and Reading vs Bristol produced entertaining games in front of slightly disappointing crowds – 2,145 and 1,420 respectively – so clearly there is still work to be done to sustain momentum. Perhaps World Cup-winning ex-USA head coach Jill Ellis said it most optimistically in her half time interview at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when she declared “the sky’s the limit for our sport”. Now it’s over to the FA.
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