Vivianne Miedema earns draw for Arsenal in derby thriller against Spurs
A scrambled second-half goal from Rachel Williams looked to have earned Tottenham victory against their north London rivals after Manuela Zinsberger had failed to hold on to the forward’s initial effort, until a thumping header from Vivianne Miedema in added time denied Spurs women their first win over Arsenal.
The Tottenham manager, Rehane Skinner, still managed to remain upbeat after drawing with the Women’s Super League leaders. “We still have to take a step back and realise this is part of the progress we’ve made which is massive,” she said. “To be in that situation, closer than any team has come up against them so far this season, is a massive credit to the players.”
The Arsenal players, who were in control for much of the game, were furious after the referee, Amy Fearn, pulled play back for a foul on Katie McCabe just as England’s Jordan Nobbs, who was through on goal, curled the ball into the net. That was before Miedema struck three minutes into added time. “It’s one of those things when you talk about other professionals, if you don’t have any positive things to say I’d rather not comment at all,” said the Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall.
Previous derby encounters had all ended in emphatic wins for Arsenal. In the WSL, the Gunners had won all three of their encounters, with an aggregate score of 11-1. The north London clubs’ rivalry has largely transferred over to the women’s teams but the huge historic discrepancies between the two clubs has meant that up to now there had only been one outcome.
Skinner said Arsenal’s centre-back Leah Williamson had said to her after the game that the progress of Spurs was making this “a proper north London derby”.
“We’re all on the same page, players, managers, we all want to make the game better, make it a spectacle and something people really want to watch,” said Skinner. “Today’s game hopefully provided that.”
At the Hive an impressive turnout from fans of both sides spoke to the increasing competitiveness of the rivalry. Under the former England assistant coach Skinner, Tottenham are a well-oiled machine. They took a first point from Manchester United last weekend to stay five points behind the league leaders Arsenal, two behind second-placed Chelsea and a point above Brighton, who have looked the mostly likely side to upset the established order at the top.
The visitors hit the crossbar twice before the break and in the second half frustrations and tensions ran high, with Ashleigh Neville, Maéva Clemaron and Percival engaged in almost constant battle with McCabe on the left. Despite the lack of goals as the hour mark passed there was a sense one was coming as play began to open up. And, with both Arsenal and Spurs having scored five goals each in the last 10 minutes in the WSL this season – more than any other team – it felt somewhat inevitable.
Arsenal were thoroughly frustrated and it was Spurs who made the breakthrough despite having 38% of possession and five shots to Arsenal’s 15. After Williams’ poached goal rattled Arsenal, Tottenham went close to doubling their lead when the full-back Neville put the ball over the bar with the goal gaping after the centre-back Shelina Zadorsky’s shot was deflected into her path.
Nobbs had the ball in the back of the net for Arsenal with five minutes remaining but the referee had blown for a foul on McCabe rather than playing advantage as Nobbs took the shot. Arsenal finally got their reply in added time, as Miedema leapt above Neville and sent a powerful header past Korpela.
“Great finish,” said Eidevall. “She created goalscoring opportunities through the whole game, on another day she would have scored another. You have to remember we played Sunday night, we had travel, we played on a different turf in Denmark and then we played Saturday lunchtime. Of course that’s incredibly tight when you add in travel. So we knew it was going to be incredibly difficult, these three games, and overall when you look at the performances I’m incredibly proud, but of course we can do better.”