Tottenham Hotspur Women hosted Arsenal Women during this Women’s Football Weekend. This match represented the first North London Derby in the FAWSL and produced a record crowd of 38,262. In this tactical analysis, we will take a look at how Arsenal Women ground out the three points to keep pace with Chelsea Women and Manchester City Women.
Spurs set up to frustrate Arsenal for large periods of this match. Their tactics worked almost to perfection in the first half and were unlucky not to find a goal for their efforts. However, Arsenal Women responded well in the second half and were deserving of the three points on the day. In this analysis, we will look at this set-up by Spurs and the adjustments Arsenal made in response.
Lineups
Arsenal (4-3-3): Manuela Zinsberger; Katie McCabe, Leah Williamson, Jennifer Beattie, Lisa Evans; Lia Walti, Kim Little, Jordan Nobbs; Bethany Mead, Vivianne Miedema, Danielle Van de Donk
There were no surprises from Joe Montemurro in this weekend’s clash. The Arsenal Women boss continued with the same side that beat Manchester City Women 1-0 before the international break. With all of his stars returning to the pitch in recent weeks, the goal is now to get them all in-sync with each other before the business end of the season comes around.
Tottenham Hotspur Women (4-4-2): Rebecca Spencer; Siri Worm, Anna Filbey, Hannah Godfrey, Ashleigh Neville; Josie Green, Rachel Furness, Chloe Peplow, Ria Percival; Kit Graham, Rianna Dean
Tottenham’s set-up was very defensive. Normally, Spurs play a 4-4-2 with Graham and Rosella Ayane on the wings. They are given the freedom to move forward into almost a 4-2-4 shape when in possession, as we have seen in matches against the likes of West Ham Women. The two wingers on this occasion were much more defensive. Percival is traditionally a full-back but was deployed in the right-midfield position ahead of Neville. On the left, defensive-midfielder Green was tasked with adding defensive cover on this side. Furness dropped into a deeper position than her normal place beside Dean and formed a double-pivot with Peplow in midfield. Lastly, Graham was moved into the second striker position in Furness’ usual spot.
Tottenham Hotspur Women defensive structure
Tottenham Hotspur Women set out in an entirely different set-up than we have seen so far this season. While the formation they played was familiar, how it was utilised was specific for this match, in particular, recognising the threat Arsenal Women provide.
Above, we discussed the specific personnel changes that were made by the home side. These alterations were extremely effective in the first half. The defensive wide midfielders were initially tasked with staying narrow. This was done to limit Arsenal Women’s ability to play through the middle of the park. Below you can see an example of their 4-4-2 structure, with a narrow midfield line.
Using this tactic, the home side largely frustrated Arsenal Women’s midfield for large portions of the match, specifically in the first half. It took until about the 15-minute point for Arsenal to get a full understanding of the defensive set-up they were trying to break down. Even after this, chances came at a premium. The narrow midfield line did an excellent job at blocking off the passing lanes into Little and Nobbs. Trying to have an impact in the match, the two would often find themselves dropping extremely deep to get away from this set-up to receive possession. However, the Spurs line was able to press them instantly as they received a pass, forcing them to go backwards or sideways. This also created a huge gap between Arsenal Women’s creative players and Miedema. This largely took our their Dutch striker for most of the first half.
Out wide quickly became the only outlet Arsenal Women were able to exploit early on. Mead and Van de Donk were moving into wide positions to receive possession, where initially they would find themselves one-v-one with their opposite full-back. Spurs were aware of this potential in their structure though, and the wide-midfielders and near-sided central midfielder consistently made efforts to close down this space once the ball was played into it. Below you can see Spurs’ defensive block shifting in the event of possession moving out to the wide area. Arsenal were only able to create two chances from these positions in the first half. However, the numerical superiority in the centre of the pitch meant that they were well-positioned for any crosses Arsenal attempted.
