Category: WSL

Spurs Women get back into action on Sunday, 7 December, 2025, following the international break. Those trips abroad have taken their toll on some. Charlie Grant, Olga Ahtinen and Cathinka Tandberg picked up injuries and will not feature again before Christmas. All three have contributed this season, but the lost of Tandberg will particularly hurt, given how she has improved the Spurs attack.

Spurs boss Martin Ho said he and his players are “under no illusions” about this weekend’s opponents. “They’re a wonderful team,” he said, noting the results Aston Villa have picked up against Arsenal and Man Utd. “They don’t concede many chances” added Ho, who said his team needs to be “ruthless” going forward. Villa have only netted nine times so far this season, but only conceded 10 times. Chances will not be easy to come by on Sunday. They cannot be wasted.

However, Ho is just as focussed, if not more so, at making sure his side is solid at the back. “I pride myself a lot on art of maybe defending,” he said. This has “maybe got lost within all the fancy side of football at the moment.” And working on this art has paid some dividends. Spurs head into this round of matches on level points with North London rivals Arsenal, against who they picked up a gutsy 0-0 draw last time out in the league.

Creativity has been a problem though. Jess Naz and Matilda Vinberg really need to contribute more from the wing. Bethany England and Tandberg linked well together earlier in the season, but more recently only one has featured at any one time. With Tandberg out for a number of weeks, there will be a lot of pressure on England to score the goals her side need. 

Olivia Holdt, of course, may be the answer. She has been Spurs’ standout player during the first half of the campaign, linking with Tandberg, England and anyone else who can actually keep up with her. The Dane’s creativity is crucial, and could be the answer to unpicking the lock on Sunday.

These two sides met in September in the Subway Cup. Spurs got the bonus point, winning the penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw. A goalless encounter suits neither team this time around and would undo a lot of the good work Tottenham did against Arsenal. With just a couple of games to go before the winter break, TottenhamHotspur women cannot afford to spurn opportunities to pick up points at home.

Team News

Tottenham: Kop, Bartrip, Nilden, Naz, England, Holdt, Vinberg, Hunt, Spence, Summanen, Neville.

Aston Villa: D’Angelo, Maritz, Patten, Deslandes, Grant, Kendall, Taylor, Maltby, Daly, Salmon, Hanson.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa Women in the WSL kicks-off at 12pm on Sunday, 7th December, 2025. The game is available to watch on Sky Sports+ and for FREE on YouTube. If you’re away, you can still access your usual services by using a VPN. ​​​I use NordVPN.​​​ You can currently get up to 74% off with their Cyber Monday deal.

Eveliina Summanen’s free-kick against London City Lionesses has been nominated for WSL Goal of the Month for November. The Finn found the net on 69 minutes. 

The stunning strike was Spurs Women’s second equaliser in the game. However, it was not enough to get the team any points, as the hosts scored two subsequent goals. The result was highly frustrating, but there is no doubting the quality of Summanen’s goal. 

Alessia Russo and Drew Spance in the Spurs vs Arenal game in WSL

The managers’ post-match reaction revealed all you need to know about the Spurs vs Arsenal WSL result. Tottenham head coach Martin Ho came bounding towards the shivering hack pack, shaking hands with everyone. Meanwhile, Arsenal boss Renee Slegers took a long time to come over and stood with arms crossed as she answered questions. 

There is no doubt that this is a far better result for the hosts than the visitors. Never mind the need to get something after a terrible result at London City Lionesses last week, Spurs had to prove they were not returning to the bad old days of always losing to the “big four”.

This wasn’t a pretty Spurs performance. Daphne van Domselaar wasn’t forced to make lots of big saves to keep Arsenal in it. The Gunners had 13 shots in total, four on target, compared to just four total shots by Ho’s team. 

It was a tough, gritty performance though. This was personified by Drew Spence, who battled throughout and was rightly named Player of the Match. “Drew maybe goes under the radar a little bit because maybe she’s not as flashy with the ball,” said Ho of the Jamaica international. “But technically, tactically… her wining mentality is phenomenal. She sets a real tone for us.”

The manager also explained that Spence is amongst the senior players that can be used for.. game management. “I felt like we had to be a little bit more smarter and game smart and that’s just game craft. That’s with a little bit of experience with some players and you maybe see like Drew, Beth, Martha, they kind of have that in terms of how to kill the game, how to slow it down, when to kind of work the ball down the sides,” he said.

As for Slegers, she acknowledged that “Tottenham are much stronger this year than last year.” Furthermore, she said that the home side “have a more aggressive pressing structure, they can do it physically and are very brave on the ball when they build.’ It was noticeable that stars like Alessia Russo, whilst always dangerous, were largely kept quiet during the game. Stina Blackstenius was the standout Gunner.

Spurs vs Arsenal WSL Vibes

Of course, the point is a good result for Tottenham Hotspur Women. It was hard-fought and deserved. However, there are still plenty of areas in which they team can improve. Most noticeably, the crossing is not good enough. Jess Naz and Matilda Vinberg are the main culprits of this. (We discussed it on Hometown Glory after the game.) Also, Olivia Holdt is really, really good.

While the end result was fine, I confess I still can’t quite get my head around the starting 11 or, indeed, the substitutions. Tinka Tandberg once again started, with Bethany England on the bench.  Tandberg is excellent and battled hard up front, but I’m confused about any Spurs starting 11 that doesn’t have Bethany England in it. The skipper did not come on until the 64th minute. 

Martha Thomas came on too. The Scotland forward was busy but wasted what was perhaps Tottenham’s best chance. Cutting in from the right-hand channel, she blazed her shot over instead of hitting the target or cutting it back to England, It was extra time and a bit more calmness and quality could have seen Spurs take all three points. 

As the minutes ticked by, it became torturous. The home fans realised they were getting closer to a really meaningful point. The away fans were getting ever more frustrated. (Indeed, so were the players. Katie McCabe, on a booking, had to be removed at half time.) At the final whist, it felt like Spurs had won.

And that’s why not losing again was so important. The fans and players could head into the League Cup game and then international break with some positivity. Never has there been a more joyous 0-0 home draw.

Martin Ho Reacts

Here is what Martin Ho said to journalists following the Spurs 0 – 0 Arsenal match on Sunday, 16th November 2025.