Tottenham Hotspur:
Starting XI: Kop (GK), Grant, Nilden, Naz, England ©, Hunt, Tandberg, Ahtinen, Spence, Summanen, Koga
Subs used: Vinberg (46’), Thomas (64‘), Rybrink (64‘), Oroz (76’), Holdt (76‘)
Manchester City:
Starting XI: Keating (GK), Greenwood ©, Shaw, Miedema, Hemp, Ouhabi, Casparij, Blindkilde-Brown, Fujino, Hasegawa, Prior
Subs used: Kerolin Nicoli (22’), Clinton (64‘), Rose (64‘), Beney (81’), Coombs (81’)
Match day 3 of the Women’s Super League started off with a bang with two big matches at either ends of the country. In the north, Everton faced London City Lionesses where the south london blues looked to pick up their first points of the season, however, North London saw Manchester City travel to Tottenham Hotspur’s Brisbane Road in what would become a six goal masterclass.
Tottenham Hotspur entered the match with two wins in two with zero goals conceded, Manchester City on the other hand suffered defeat to Chelsea FC on the opening day of the season and had a close call against Brighton & Hove Albion just last week, however the match looked much the opposite.
The game started off strong for the visiting team after a false start from Tottenham led to City gaining and maintaining possession very quickly after the restart. The Lillywhites defence took a shaky start to the game with several close calls from the City attack.
A free kick from Nilden in the 17th minute saw Manchester City’s first real slip up of the game with the defence only clearing as far as Jessica Naz, who travelled far up the pitch, forcing Hemp into an uncomfortable tackle, forcing City into an early unwanted substitute early on.
Kerolin Nicoli’s substitution came soon after another close call from Tottenham Hotspur, with yet another impressive shot from Cathinka Tandberg forcing Keating into a tight save.
Just minutes later, Manchester City’s Aoba Fujino found the opener, the Japanese international’s shot proving too powerful for the gloves of Lize Kop.
Soon after, Khadija (Bunny) Shaw had an attempted back heel on goal but missed, producing a corner and a fantastic save from Kop. Greenwood’s following corner scored high of the goal.
Just ten minutes later, City doubled their lead, an Alex Greenwood header safely finding the head of Vivianne Miedema to strengthen the goal difference.
As the second half drew to a close, the citizens attack did not falter, with defender Kerstin Casparij joining in on the scoring, claiming a header due to a spurs defensive error.
With four minutes of time added on, the home team finally earnt themselves their first corner of the game, their biggest chance to score yet. This however saw too much power and so went out for a goal kick in the halves dying stages.
The start of the second half saw a more relaxed game from both sides with both teams having equal efforts on goal. Here we also saw the first booking of the game where Charlotte Grant saw yellow for the first time this season.
At the 55 minute mark spurs saw yellow for the second time after a strong tackle from Clare Hunt saw the defender penalised and a penalty go in favour of the visitors. Here however, Bunny Shaw saw her shot saved, Lize Kop diving the correct way and sending the ball out for a corner in which was taken short and a diving header was missed by Bunny Shaw.
A double substitution from both sides saw Martha Thomas and Josefine Rybrink enter the field of play for Tottenham Hotspur in place of Charlotte Grant and Cathinka Tandberg and Manchester City bring on Grace Clinton and Jade Rose in place of Aoba Fujino and Alex Greenwood, with Casparij taking captaincy
The 74th minute saw what looked like it could have been the blues fourth goal of the game, with the visitors beating the keeper before having their shot cleared off the line.
Moments later, Maite Oroz and Olivia Holdt entered the field in place of Bethany England and Drew Spence, with Martha Thomas taking the armband.
Just fifteen minutes into her Brisbane Road return and her Manchester City debut, Grace Clinton found the net in the 80th minute, slotting one home against her former side.
Laura Coombs and Iman Beney replaced Bunny Shaw and Viv Miedema, with both attackers earning a well deserved rest
In the closing stages of the game, Spurs earnt a free kick in dangerous territory with Nilden’s attempt being blocked by the head of Gracie Prior.
Moments later Olivia Holdt found the back of the net for just the second time in a spurs shirt, with a screamer from outside the area.
To close the match, Laura Coombs scored her first goal since January 2025, lobbing the keeper from within the box.
The match ended 5-1 to the visitors with Tottenham Hotspur claiming their first loss of the season and dropping to fifth in the league.
Manchester City celebrating their second goal of the game (via @mancitywomen on Instagram)
