Spurs Women v Manchester City - Karen and Juan's preview

Spurs Women return to action this Sunday (5 January) following the Christmas break, as we host last season’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) runners-up at The Hive for our first match of 2020.

Sunday’s fixture at home will be our first meeting with Manchester City in the WSL and we come up against a side who are second in the league and have fallen to defeat just twice this season against their fellow title challengers Arsenal and Chelsea.

Ruthless in front of goal, City have scored 17 times in their last six league fixtures including three impressive 5-0 victories against West Ham, Bristol City and Brighton. 

Sitting seventh in the league, our last WSL outing ended in a disappointing 3-1 defeat away to Reading last month after Siri Worm’s stunning goal had given us the lead at Adams Park.

Head Coach Juan Amoros said: “The Christmas break was very useful for the players and staff and a good opportunity to take a break, reflect and spend some quality time with loved ones and we have already seen in training this week that the break has been positive both physically and mentally for the team.

“In City, we know that we’re coming up against some very experienced players, they’re very good on the ball and we know they have some great finishers. When you play teams like them, they tend to have less weaknesses and more strengths than other teams in the league so it’s a question of us trying to exploit their weaknesses.

“It’s going to be a tough challenge, but I think the girls are ready for it. Last time we played them, we created a lot of chances and put them under pressure. Unfortunately, that FA Cup match ended in defeat, but it was a great experience and day for us overall as a Championship side. We’ve definitely grown as a team since then so we’re hoping to have a better chance of getting a positive result on this occasion.”

“Facing last season’s domestic double cup winners and runners-up of the WSL is never going to be easy for any team," Head Coach Karen Hills commented. "We know it’s going to be a challenging game against a top side full of quality players, but this is what this league is all about – there are no easy games.

“Obviously, all our focus is on Sunday’s game but at the same time, we know we’ve got a tough run of fixtures this month. We’ve got back-to-back home games at The Hive and we need to make our home advantage count.

“We got some great points on the board early in the season, but now it’s important for us to carry on the good work and keep building in 2020. We’ve had some quality time away during Christmas and now we need to hit the ground running and build momentum.”