Manchester United against Tottenham can never be labelled a derby. The 200-plus miles between their home grounds will see to that. Watch their six-goal thriller in the Women’s Super League last weekend, though, and it had all the hallmarks of a classic derby: some needle, some squaring up to one another and, amid a high-intensity contest, a subtle undertone of increasingly passionate dislike. Luckily for any fans who enjoy seeing the odd late challenge or feisty exchange, the teams meet again a week on from that engrossing 3-3 draw, in Sunday’s League Cup quarter-finals.
It appears to have been brewing long before these sides played out one of the most dramatic games in the WSL era, United coming from 3-0 down to claim a late draw on a day when they hit the crossbar four times. It seems to stem from before Martin Ho, the former United assistant manager, was appointed as Tottenham’s head coach last summer, and before United coasted to a 4-0 win over Spurs in the 2024 Women’s FA Cup final. Perhaps we need to cast our minds back to 12 February 2023.
