🏏 Sun, 16 Nov 2025 14:30 GMT
Tottenham Hotspur Women
vs
Arsenal Women
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- A north London derby in WSL matchday nine, and Japan international Toko Koga starts at centre-back for the hosts at 19. She joined Tottenham from Feyenoord in July 2025 and went on to become the club's youngest ever goalscorer, having already started all four of Japan's matches at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Her aerial strength and passing out of the back face about as stern a test as European football can offer.
- For Jess Naz, 25, this is a meeting with a former club. The right winger was born in Enfield and came through Tottenham's academy, but her CV also includes a spell at Arsenal. She earned her first senior England call-up in May 2024 and has six caps to her name, giving her a foot in both halves of this rivalry.
- Arsenal's team sheet is extreme: six of the eleven starters are registered as forwards. Alessia Russo, 26 and 1.75m, whose back-heel at Euro 2022 made her a household name, and Stina Blackstenius, 29 and 1.74m, a Sweden international with real aerial power, are the recognised strikers, while the flanks carry Euro 2022 Golden Boot winner Beth Mead, 30, on the right and Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe, 30, whose left-footed crossing and set pieces are her calling card, on the left.
- Mariona Caldentey is the creative hub. The 29-year-old Spain international spent a decade at Barcelona and was part of the 2023 World Cup-winning squad, and her left foot produces goals and assists in equal measure. Behind her, left-footed Kyra Cooney-Cross, 23, is the lone holding midfielder: the Australian, a Melbourne Victory product, sets the tempo and leads the press.
- One Arsenal attacker knows Japanese football well. Caitlin Foord, 31, played for Vegalta Sendai Ladies alongside spells at Sydney FC and the Portland Thorns, and the Australia international still relies on pace and close control to unsettle defenders. A duel between a 31-year-old who once played in Japan and Japan's own 19-year-old centre-back is one of the tie's quieter subplots.
- Tottenham's midfield has a strong Nordic accent. Finland's Eveliina Summanen, 27, has held the club's WSL assist record since joining in 2022 and supplies the final ball. Out wide, Denmark's Olivia Holdt, 24, arrived in January 2025 after scoring 25 goals in 47 games across two seasons at FC Rosengard, and Sweden's Matilda Vinberg, 22, won a league and cup double with Hammarby and was named their breakthrough player of the year.
- Katinka Tandberg, 21, is the most recent arrival, a Norwegian striker signed from Hammarby in September 2025, which makes her and Vinberg former club-mates in Stockholm. Alongside them, 33-year-old Drew Spence brings the ballast: a long-serving Chelsea midfielder before joining Spurs in 2022, the Jamaica international is the calmest head in the home side's engine room.
- Spurs' back line is no less cosmopolitan. Clare Hunt, 26, partners Koga in the middle after a spell at Paris Saint-Germain and a run to the semi-finals with Australia at the 2023 home World Cup. Sweden's Amanda Nilden, 27, a left-footed full-back who joined from Juventus in 2024, takes the left, and 32-year-old Ashleigh Neville, a long-serving figure at the club, the right.
- The goalkeeping duel is an all-Dutch affair. Lise Kop, 27, came to Tottenham via Ajax and Leicester City and compensates for a compact 1.73m frame with quick reactions and sharp positioning. Daphne van Domselaar, 25 and 1.75m, was nominated for the 2023 Ballon d'Or and is comfortable sweeping behind a high defensive line for Arsenal.
- Both benches can change the game. Spurs hold back captain Beth England, 31, a striker who won both the WSL Player of the Season and PFA Player of the Year awards at Chelsea and arrived in January 2023 for a then-domestic-record fee of GBP 250,000. Arsenal keep Chloe Kelly, 27, scorer of the Euro 2022 final winner, and Olivia Smith, the 21-year-old Canada international who became the first million-pound signing in women's football.