Spurs show resilience in north London derby stalemate

Tottenham's defensive discipline earns a vital point against Arsenal, but attacking limitations highlight the need for January reinforcements

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This was only the third time Tottenham Hotspur have taken a result from a North London derby, and the first time in two years. Sunday’s goalless draw at Brisbane Road leaves Spurs and Arsenal level on points after nine games, although Arsenal have a superior goal difference. The point is also enough to keep Spurs just ahead of newly promoted London City Lionesses, the team that they lost to last week.

It is hard to overstate how big a turnaround Spurs have gone through under Martin Ho. But one indication is that last season’s aggregate NLDs produced eight goals for Arsenal and none for Spurs.

While Arsenal were clearly the dominant team in this game, the result was not a complete aberration. Compared with the 2023 NLD win, when Spurs scored against the run of play and Arsenal racked up 31 shots, this time Arsenal managed just 13 shots, four on target. Indeed, so far this season, only Manchester United have restricted Renée Slegers’s team to fewer attempts on goal.

At the back, Tōko Koga did a fantastic job of keeping Alessia Russo quiet. The England striker had just six touches in the box, one of which was offside, and two others were unsuccessful. Russo’s England teammate Beth Mead was closely tracked and allowed few openings by Amanda Nildén. Alongside Koga, Clare Hunt continued her heroic redemption arc, nullifying Stina Blackstenius in the first half and ensuring that, despite having more control, Arsenal got nothing from the second. This was also a game in which Ashleigh Neville, now 32, demonstrated that she remains an excellent ball-winner and shot-blocker.

On the occasions she was called on, Lize Kop – wearing a face mask after being clattered by Nikita Parris the previous week – was composed, unflustered by either onrushing Arsenal players or the loud away contingent behind her goal in the second half. She made a few big saves and racked up her fourth clean sheet of the season. She was also a key part of the defence’s ability to play the ball around the back comfortably, which became critical in riding out periods of Arsenal pressure.

Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge in the first 45 – but also their bench strength – was reflected in Slegers’s decision to bring on two substitutes at half-time and a third on 57 minutes. These changes helped the away side, with the two ex-Liverpool players Taylor Hinds and Olivia Smith producing some of the team’s better moments. Smith, in particular, caused problems for Nildén down Spurs’ left and forced other players to cover. But Spurs saw the game out and continued to play decent, at times one-touch, football, retaining a pass-completion rate of 83%. It was a reminder that under Ho, Tottenham have become a resilient and well-drilled team.

What does it mean?

If the draw is objectively a much better result for Spurs than it is for their North London rivals, whose title aspirations must surely now be dead – and even a top-three finish likely to be a battle – the game also emphasised weaknesses in the Spurs side, which remains a work in progress. After some good periods in the first half and a strong first five minutes of the second, Spurs’ lack of attacking cut-through was apparent in a half-hour spell in which they created little.

Ironically, the only decent chance in the final quarter of the game fell to Martha Thomas. It was unsurprising that the 2023 NLD hero was unable to re-summon that autumn of sparkling form and instead continued her now nearly two-year goal drought. Indeed, the use of Thomas, given that drought, is a reminder that Spurs’ attacking options off the bench remain limited.

And while Ho showed ambition in making attacking rather than defensive substitutions, this was likely because he correctly understood attack as the best form of defence, rather than because he believed any of the substitutes – Bethany England aside – were likely match-winners.

Speaking to another ongoing concern, Spurs’ starting wingers Matilda Vinberg and Jessica Naz sparked and spluttered. Vinberg, in a relatively fluid three with Olivia Holdt and Naz, played through the centre to good effect and made creative runs, completing three of five dribbles, while Naz out wide produced a couple of dangerous crosses. But both also ran into dead ends and too often made poor decisions, failing to see – or to find – players in space.

This game therefore cemented something the loss to London City highlighted: that the wings are the areas most in need of strengthening during the January window. This becomes even clearer if we look at the lack of goal contributions from this position so far this season, with just one assist and no goals from any of the players Ho uses out wide: Naz, Vinberg, Thomas or Lenna Gunning-Williams.

The signing of 20-year-old Norwegian star Signe Gaupset is reportedly close to completion and will provide more creativity and physicality, as well as goal threat, to Spurs’ attacking line. The hope is that she is one of several new attacking options coming in the January window.

If the club does add players with Gaupset’s creativity and firepower to the solid, well-organised and increasingly technical defensive unit that was on display in the NLD, maybe this really will be the season Spurs make good on their repeatedly stated ambition to build a team capable of competing with the top WSL sides. And who knows – maybe the reverse fixture will produce the first away points for Spurs in a NLD.