North London derby shows the quality gaps across the WSL are getting smaller

Only a stoppage time equaliser from world class striker Vivianne Miedema stopped Tottenham from claiming a famous win over Arsenal in the WSL’s north London derby on Saturday afternoon.

Spurs have never previously beaten Arsenal and had their work cut out ahead of the game because the Gunners have been in blistering form this season.

Prior to kick-off, the league leaders hadn’t conceded a WSL goal since the opening weekend of the season. They also hadn’t trailed in a domestic game at any point this season.

That changed when veteran Spurs forward Rachel Williams bundled the ball into the net after reacting quickest to a rebound from a powerful shot from strike partner Kit Graham.

Graham was excellent throughout, while Spurs goalkeeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela made three outstanding saves in the first half alone to keep Arsenal at bay until the death. It is not an exaggeration to say the three best players on the pitch were wearing Spurs colours.

Spurs have been beaten heavily by Arsenal more than once in the recent past. The Gunners won home and away by a combined score-line of 9-1 in last season’s WSL derbies. They even won 5-1 in an FA Cup tie just six weeks ago, having won 4-0 in another cup tie last year.

But while huge mismatches have been a growing criticism of women’s football – look only to England scoring 32 goals without reply in just four recent World Cup qualifiers for proof of that – it is increasingly no longer the case in the WSL.

Arsenal beat Bristol City 11-1 in December 2019 and scored nine against West Ham at the start of last season. Chelsea also put nine past Bristol last season, while Manchester City got eight against Bristol and seven against Aston Villa within the last year.

As teams and players outside the elite few see more and more of the benefit of full-time professional status – Tottenham, for example, have been a pro club since 2019 – those kinds of huge thrashings that were once not surprising will slip out of the WSL. Meanwhile, the likes of Bristol, who were struggling to compete, have dropped out to be replaced by those who better can.

There have obviously still been one-sided games this season, but Chelsea’s 6-1 win over Manchester United is the only time any club have scored more than five goals in a single game. What’s more, four is the most goals that any side has managed in a WSL game since then.

The competitiveness across the division is going up and the annihilations look more and more to be a thing of the past. Tottenham have just underlined that even further by taking Arsenal all the way to the death and being disappointed not to actually win.

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