‘They are very good right now’ – Spurs boss Vilahamn acknowledges Arsenal’s form under Slegers | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Robert Vilahamn has acknowledged Arsenal’s good form under new boss Renée Slegers but says that his side can hurt The Gunners in the latest North London derby.

Spurs make the short trip to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Spurs boss Vilahamn acknowledged Arsenal’s form under Slegers but said that his own side can be competitive in the game.

“What she has done is very impressive,” Vilahamn said. “They’ve virtually won all of the games, the players are performing at a really high level and they have so many players that they can use in different ways.

“They are very good right now but we see ways that we can hurt them and how we need to defend against them. We’ve beaten them before, so I think it’s a cool game to play. We are ready for this experience.”

Arsenal have goals spread across the team and Vilahamn says that a collective defensive effort will be required from his side this weekend.

He said “We need to defend as a collective. If they play Stina Blackstenius as a nine, she floats in-behind all of the time, if Alessia Russo is playing, she’s handles the situation in a different way, the wingers can work in different ways, their pivots can shoot from distance, they have Frida Maanum. You cannot just look at stopping the crosses or stopping another method, we have to make sure that we are pressing well, keep them from our goal, so that they don’t create those chances and if they do create chances, we have to make sure we block shots and do everything we can to defend.

“The main thing is that we have the ball and try to play our style as well. If you’re defending for 90 minutes, it’s going to be really hard because they have so many good individuals.

“Collectively, we have to be really disciplined and as individuals we have to make sure that we have a really good fight.”

Spurs were defeated 1-0 by Arsenal in last season’s North London derby at the Emirates Stadium and Vilahamn believes that his side will be stronger for that experience.

He said “Everything that you do to be consistent is about experience and being exposed to it. If you look at the FA Cup final, Manchester United had a benefit of having played in the final before. It doesn’t mean that we are not used to that or it doesn’t mean that we are going to win on Sunday, it helps us.

“When you play in a big stadium with a big fanbase, you cannot communicate in the same way, you’ve got to be calm in the moment and find ways to communicate.

“It was a good game last year, we lost 1-0 but it was a decent performance. This year, we come into the game with some new personnel in the playing squad and in the coaching staff, so we need to see it as a new game. I also want to see how we address this part of the season; how we compete with Arsenal, how we can dictate the game and the ball a little bit more, create a few more chances but still defend with heart and discipline. I’m curious to see how we handle it.”

Tottenham Hotspur’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Arsenal kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon.