Questions mounting for Slegers after poor north London derby showing

Arsenal's 0-0 draw with Spurs marks yet another frustrating performance from the Gunners this campaign

Arsenal slumped to their worst start after nine games of a WSL season in 11 years after being held to 0-0 draw in the latest instalment of the north London derby.

The result leaves the Gunners one point outside of the WSL’s Champions League places, having failed to capitalise on rivals Manchester United falling to a second consecutive defeat. Arsenal also missed an opportunity to close the gap on champions Chelsea to three points.

Despite the absence of any goals, Arsenal’s latest performance contained a number of intriguing themes. Let’s have a look at a few of them.

Is the north London gap finally closing?

The women’s north London derby has historically felt like a bit of a hollow rivalry, with much of the lore and mythology around the fixture borrowed from the men’s game. As a result, the fixture in the women’s game has struggled to create its own unique identity and storylines in the way that Arsenal-Chelsea has done. In fact, the key defining feature in this fixture is how one-sided it has historically been.

What makes Sunday’s goalless draw so compelling then, is not just the result – it marks the third time in 12 WSL meetings that Arsenal have failed to beat their north London foes - but the manner in which the game played out. The first half, in particular, was a genuine contest between two sides who, nine games into the WSL season, remain level on points.

When the possession numbers flashed up on Sky Sports’ broadcast after the first 30 minutes of the game, Spurs had enjoyed nearly two-thirds of possession (64%). This is totally unheard of in this fixture – even Spurs’ sole derby win back in December 2023 was a bit of a smash and grab (five shots to Arsenal’s 31 and 39% possession). On this occasion, Spurs, in the first half at least, had the match of their opponents, enjoying more of the ball in a first half of few chances.