Record Women's Super League crowd watches Arsenal thrash Tottenham in derby win
Arsenal made it two wins from two in the Women’s Super League (WSL) with a 4-0 thumping of North London rivals Tottenham, in front of a record-breaking crowd at the Emirates Stadium.
Beth Mead and Rafaelle Souza both scored, while Vivianne Miedema netted a brace, to open her account for the season, in a dominant display from the Gunners.
The game was played in front of a crowd of 47,367 at the Emirates, a new WSL attendance record - 53,737 tickets were officially sold for the fixture.
Arsenal were straight out of the blocks and came close to an opener just minutes into the game when Lia Walti picked out an unmarked Mead in the middle of the area, but her shot was deflected away.
Mead made no mistake with her next opportunity. After finding space on the left her attempted cross was cleared straight back to her and the England star curled an effort into the far corner, to put the Gunners in front four minutes in.
Spurs had their first move of the game seven minutes before the break. They made headway down the right and an opportunity opened up for Celin Bizet Ildhusoy, but Manuela Zinsberger made a comfortable save.
The Gunners’ dominance was rewarded in the 43rd minute when Caitlin Foord capitalised on a poor touch from Eveliina Summanen and squared the ball to Miedema, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
Their charge continued after the break and Souza added the third in the 54th minute, towering above her marker from a corner to head into the back of the net.
Arsenal extended their lead from another corner 15 minutes later. A short ball was played to Foord, who whipped in a cross to Miedema and the Dutch forward flicked the ball home with her head, for her second of the afternoon.
On a rare foray forward, the visitors earned a corner, but the resulting shot flew wide. Minutes later Ashleigh Neville hit a menacing cross into the area, but Ramona Petzelberger was unable to get her head to it as Arsenal denied Spurs a consolation.
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