Match report: Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur
WSL: Arsenal ensured the destination of the WSL trophy will be decided on the final day of the season, with a 3-0 defeat of Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium keeping them in the hunt for the title. Suzanne Wrack reports ...
Kim Little speaks: “It was intense and a bit similar to earlier in the season when we drew 1-1,” says the Arsenal veteran in an interview with the BBC. “We have played well in the last few games and we have kept it going. I thought it was a great performance by us. Each of these last few matches for us, it’s been about getting the points. It’s down to Sunday now and we need to get three points.”
Our time in the @BarclaysFAWSL comes to an end. pic.twitter.com/UBlOfrzVkK
— Birmingham City Women (@BCFCWomen) May 4, 2022
Full time: Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeep! It’s all over at the Emirates, where Arsenal have run out fairly easy winners. Beth Mead scored the first and Caitlin Foord added two more to keep them within a point of Chelsea going into the final day of the season. Chelsea host Manchester United on Sunday, while Arsenal trtavel to West Ham.
Addison misses from the spot!
90+8 min: Having won the penalty, Addison takes it. She sends Zinsberger the wrong way but hits the post!!!
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Tottenham win a penalty!
90+6 min: Lotte Wubben-Moy brings down substitute Angela Addison, clipping her heels in the Arsenal penalty area. It’s a late, late spot-kick for Spurs.
90+4 min: Arsenal corner. The ball’s swung across the Tottenham penalty area and Nikita Parris gets a touch but can only skim it wide with her head. She should have done better.
90+3 min: A poor first touch on the edge of the Tottenham six-yard box costs her a shooting opportunity. She goes down under a subsequent challenge but doesn’t get a penalty.
90+2 min: Vivianne Miedema shoots on the turn but Korpela gets down quickly to save in the Spurs goal. I think that shot was going wide but she wasn’t prepared to chance it.
90+1 min: We’re into the first of seven mooted minutes of added time. Seven!
88 min: Arsenal make a triple substitution: Williamson, Maritz and Mead make way for Jen Beattie, Nikita Parris and Laura Wienroither. Leah Williamson gets a massive ovation and taps her badge in appreciation on the way off.
85 min: Lotte Wubben-Moy comes perilously close to selling her goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger hideously short with a back-pass but just about gets away with it. Arsenal clear their lines. I suppose we’d give Wubben-Moy the benefit of the doubt and say she knew exactly what she was doing.
84 min: Foord is unlikely to top that goal in the remaining few minutes and is duly replaced by Asmita Ale.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Foord 82)
Now it’s three! Beth Mead picks out Caitlin Foord on the edge of the Tottenham penalty area and she curls a beauty of a shot around Tinja-Riika Korpela and inside the far post. That’s a wonderful strike.
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80 min: Correction: Manchester City have spanked Birmingham 6-0! I thought they’d finished at four but was misinformed.
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78 min: Elsewhere in the WSL: Manchester City have spanked Birmingham 4-0 at the Etihad Academy, which means the side from the Midlands have been relegated from the WSL.
78 min: Tottenham substitution: Cho So-hyun on for Rachel Williams.
76 min: Looking at replays of that Josie Green challenge on Lia Walti, you’d have to say the Tottenham player was extremely lucky to excape with no more than a booking. It was nasty challenge that was well worth a red card.
72 min: There’s a bit of argy-bargy as Katie McCabe and Maeva Clemaron engage in handbags moments after Josie Green got had got booked for a meaty challenge on Lia Walti. McCabe and Clemaron both get booked too.
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GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Tottenham (Foord 72)
Arsenal double their lead! From a short corner, Miedema ends up driving the ball across the face of the Tottenham goal. Caitlin Foord shakes off her marker and stabs it home from close range at the far post.
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68 min: Arsenal substitution: Katie McCabe is on for Stina Blackstenius. Tottenham substitution: Izzy Lane on for Jessica Naz.
67 min: Miedema shoots high over the bar with her left foot from just outside the Arsenal penalty area.
66 min: Caitlin Foord cuts into the Tottenham penalty area from the left, runs into traffic and lays the ball off to Miedema. She too runs into a stout wall of white shirts. Good defending from Tottenham in their own box.
63 min: Beth Mead “tsks” in visible irritation after passing up a decent shooting opportunity to pull the ball acrossd the face of the Tottenham goal instead. There’s nobody on hand to prod home.
59 min: Elsewhere in the WSL, Manchester CIty lead Birmingham 3-0 with 20 minutes to go at the Etihad Academy. Unless they win, Birmingham are going down. Their goose seems well and truly cooked.
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58 min: Tottenham substitute Evalina Summanen is booked for raising her hands to Kim Little as the pair engaged in a bit of “afters”.
55 min: Tottenham attack, with Ayane on the ball down the left wing. At the byline, she pulls the ball straight into the arms of Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger. That’s a poor delivery - crossing for the sake of crossing, rather than holding the ball up and waiting for Rachel WIlliams to get up in support.
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54 min: Miedema sells her marker a dummy to create a yard of space in the Tottenham penalty area only to shoot straight at Tinja-Riika Korpela.
53 min: Miedema runs on to a through abll and tries to square it across the face of the Spurs goal. Her delivery is put out for a corner. Tottenham clear from the set-piece.
51 min: Beth Mead sprints forward for Arsenal with the ball at her fgeet but runs into traffic on the edge of the Spurs penalty area. Jessica Naz takes possession, gallops forward and runs into a red wall of resistance when perhaps she should have played the ball wide.
49 min: There’s a break in play after a full-blooded collision between Beth Mead and Josie Green. Green looked to be the aggressor there, diving in after a heavy touch but she doesn’t concede a foul as she won the ball and kept her studs down. Both players look OK to continue.
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47 min: Arsenal begin the second half as they did the first – on the front foot.
Second half: Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham
46 min: Play resumes and Tottenham have made a change. Evalina Summanen is on for Kyah Simon.
Half-time: Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Peep! The players of both teams adjourn to their dressing-rooms with Arsenal leading courtesy of Beth Mead’s early opener. They should have scored one or two more but will be happy enough with the current state of affairs.
45+1 min: Steph Catley sends the ball into the penalty area and Tottenham only half-clear. The half-time whistle saves Spurs.
45 min: Having started badly, Tottenham have grown in the game but continue to spend much of it on the back foot. They remain a goal down but have grounds for optimism and a corner to defend.
43 min: Breaking upfield with a four-on-two, Arsenal simply must score. They don’t, however – Caitlin Foord goes for goal and shoots straight at Tinja-Riika Korpela. That’s an awful miss considering how many options she had at her disposal.
41 min: Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius is flagged for offside as she canters down the right flank to run on to a through ball from deep. It was marginal but the ref’s assistant got it right.
37 min: At half-time in tonight’s other WSL fixture it’s Manchester City 0-0 Birmingham. The visitors have to win to give themselves any chance of avoiding relegation.
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36 min: A quick free-kick from Miedema picks out Beth Mead on a sprint into the Tottenham penalty area. Molly Bartrip slides in to take the ball off her toe with a splendidly well-timed tackle.
33 min: Arsenal attack with Lotte Wubben-Moy sending a ball over the top for Blackstenius to chase down the inside-right. Up in support, Steph Catley is teed up and brings a smart save out of Tottenham goalkeeper Tinja-Riika Korpela.
31 min: Tottenham attack on the break but Rosella Ayane gets the ball caught under her feet, dawdles as she tries to regain control and is dispossessed by Kim Little. Danger averted.
26 min: Arsenal corner after good defending by Ashleigh Neville. Beth Mead’s delivery is towards Lotte Wubben-Moy but is a little too high. Vivianne Miedema sends the ball into the mixer from the right but Tottenham clear.
24 min: Tottenham’s Kyah Simon gets booked for a cynical Fernandinho-esque barge on Stina Blackstenius as the Swede tried to advance through the centre-circle.
20 min: Tottenham’s Rachel Williams, wearing a Zorro mask to protect a broken nose, gets a ticking-off but no yellow card for a shoulder-charge on Lia Walti. She protests that it was a fair challenge and she has a good case, but the ref is not for turning and Arsenal get the free-kick. Nothing comes of it.
19 min: Tottenham defender Ashleigh Neville dives in to half-block a Caitlin Foord shot from the edge of the box after she’d picked up a good pass from Miedema and tried her luck. Corner for Arsenal.
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16 min: Lotte Wubben-Moy dispossesses Jessica Naz with a meaty, well-timed challenge to put an end to a Tottenham attack up the right flank. Arsenal remain very much in the ascendency.
13 min: Arsenal continue to dominate as Tottenham’s players commit foul after foul. Ashleigh Neville is the latest to be penalised for a foul on Leah Williamson. Free-kick for Arsenal in a dangerous position about 30 yards from goal. Mead’s chip sails into the hands of Tottenham goalkeeper Tinja-Riika Korpela.
She LOVES a goal at the Emirates! 🙌
— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) May 4, 2022
Enjoy that, @bmeado9? 😍#BarclaysFAWSL @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/dek0Jj56yN
9 min: Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius pulls a low cross from the inside right to the near post of the Tottenham goal. There’s nobody on hand to convert.
7 min: Tottenham win a corner and the ball is swung in. Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger comes for it but misses it completely and Arsenal somehow survive the ensuing goalline scramble. Vivienne Miedema blocks consecutive shots from Kyah Simon on the line in very quick succession.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham (Mead 4)
Arsenal lead! It’s terrible defending from Tottenham, who back off Beth Mead as she advances on their penalty area with the ball at her feet. On and on and on she goes, with nobody coming to challenge her, before slotting the ball low into the bottom right-hand corner from about 14 yards out.
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3 min: The Emirates Stadium is far from full this evening, but it’s a decent turn-out for a school night.
Arsenal v Tottenham is go ...
1 min: Tottenham get the ball rolling in what really amounts to a must-win game for their hosts. Certainly a must-not-lose one ... against a team that hasn’t won in six WSL matches.
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Not long now: The teams are out on the Emirates sward going through the last of the pre-match formalities. Kick-off is just moments away.
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Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur line-ups
Arsenal: Zinsberger, Maritz, Williamson, Wubben-Moy, Catley, Walti, Little, Miedema, Mead, Blackstenius, Foord.
Subs: Beattie, Maanum, Parris, McCabe, Williams, Boye Sorensen, Iwabuchi, Wienroither, Cull.
Tottenham Hotspur: Tinja-Riika Korpela, Neville, Bartrip, Zadorsky, Naz, Green, Clemaron, Harrop, Simon, Scarlett Williams, Ayane.
Subs: Cho, Tang, Ale, Addison, Spencer, Summanen, Lane.
Rehanne Skinner: “It’s going to be a tough test, that’s kind of what these games are about and it’s important to rise to the challenge,” said Tottenham’s manager. “We’re looking forward to it, that’s something that’s on the players’ minds that we want to get more points out of it for sure. They’re a tough team, but we’re going to make it as hard as we can and maybe we can cause an upset. Let’s hope that it’s the case.
“I think everyone we play is a big rival. I totally understand from a fans’ perspective, the north London aspect of it because it translates over from the men’s game a little bit more. The longer we’re in the league, the more that will become obvious as well. The last game we played in particular, it really was a more true fashioned north London derby.”
Jonas Eidevall: “I don’t look that far ahead [to Sunday],” said the Arsenal manager yesterday. “I have massive respect for Tottenham. We need to focus on winning and if we can do that everything will be on the line on Sunday. We need to do it ourselves tomorrow.
“It is a massive game for us, going to the Emirates, it’s a north London derby. Let’s focus on that, if we don’t win then it’s all over and Sunday doesn’t matter. We need to do something tomorrow.
“I always say ‘it’s a derby so it is filled with emotions’. It is two very different teams. Both have been performing well in the season.
“For me, that is unrealistic thinking about Sunday now. It is Tottenham. I am so excited to go to the Emirates and play them. First we take that and then we’ll think about West Ham.”
Tottenham Hotspur team news
Midfiedler and long-term absentee Kit Graham remains sidelined with a ruptured cruciate injury, while Viktoria Schnaderbeck can’t play for Tottenham tonight as she is on loan from Arsenal and the terms of her contract forbid it.
Arsenal team news
Jordan Nobbs will not feature tonight or at the weekend, after being ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury that proimpted her to leave the field in tears of frustration following Arsenal’s most recent win over Aston Villa. Having missed out on the last World Cup through a knee injury, her place in the England squad for this summer’s Euros now appears in doubt. We wish her all the very best in her recovery.
Versatile Brazilian Rafaelle could feature tonight having been sidelined since March, while Japanese winger Mana Iwabuchi could return after sitting out her side’s weekend win over Villa with an injury.
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Elsewhere tonight: Manchester City host Birmingham in tonight’s other WSL fixture, which kicks off at 7pm (BST). Birmingham have to win to give themselves any hope of overtaking Leicester on the final day of the season and avoiding relegation. We’ll keep you up to date with events as they unfold at the Etihad’s Academy Stadium.
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WSL: Arsenal v Tottenham
Tottenham travel to face Arsenal in a rescheduled fixture that was originally due to be played in late March, only to be postponed due to an outbreak of Covid in the visitors’ squad.
Arsenal are the hot favourites, but things have a habit of going out the proverbial window in derbies and a win for Tottenham will guarantee Chelsea the WSL championship. Emma Hayes’s side currently sit four points ahead of Arsenal having played one game more, which means the Gunners need at least a point – but almost certainly a win – tonight to keep things interesting and take the title race to the final day this weekend.
Tottenham can end the season no higher than fifth, their best ever WSL finish, but will be hoping to make the most of their opportunity to chuck a massive spanner in the works of Arsenal’s title tilt. Kick-off at the Emirates Stadium is at 7.15pm but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
