Tottenham Hotspur Women resume their regular season on Sunday, September 6th against West Ham, and folks, there’s a lot to be excited about! The club turned over a new leaf in the 2025-26 season with Martin Ho at the helm and a whole host of young exciting players getting us up and out of our seats. We finished in 5th place in the WSL – the spot we’ve affectionately come to know as “best of the rest” – while playing some absolutely delightful attacking football while we did it. Six new signings have
arrived this summer to help us push on in search of those ever elusive top three Champions League spots.
*record scratch* *freeze frame* wait, haven’t I heard this one before?
That’s right. We are once again exactly where we thought we were after 2021-22 when we finished 5th under Rehanne Skinner, and also where we thought we were after Spurs finished 6th in 2023-24 under Robert Vilahamn. After both of those promising seasons, Spurs finished just outside of the relegation zone playing what was – at the time – the least inspiring football I’d ever seen a Spurs team play (I’ll give you one guess who retains that title now).
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That said, I’m actually hopeful we’re not in for another roller coaster this season! Both our previous strong seasons were followed by bigger teams and injuries gutting the core talent of our squad. In 2022, we lost Rachel Williams to Manchester United, Maeva Clemaron to wanting to be an architect, and Kit Graham and Ria Percival to ACL injuries. In 2024, we lost Grace Clinton and Celin Bizet to Manchester United, and Becky Spencer’s shot stopping fell off a cliff without any suitable replacement in sight.
But this year, we managed to retain the core talents on the team in Toko Koga, Olivia Holdt and Signe Gaupset. Don’t get me wrong – emotionally, I’m only just getting over losing Ash Neville, Beth England and Molly Bartrip in the same season, but I have to admit that all three were either beginning to age out or no longer the strongest option in their position. In addition, we bolstered our ranks with some solid players and a few for the future. While I’m still looking for us to sign a true star (and, judging London City’s summer, apparently you can just *do* that?), the squad looks really solid. Communication out of the club makes it sound like we’ve professionalized the staffing setup and back of house operations as well.
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The WSL will also look a little different this season. The league has expanded from twelve to fourteen teams, with three teams coming up from the Women’s Championship. It’ll be the same relegation format as last year – the last-placed team in the WSL will face the third place team in the Championship in a one-off promotion playoff. If things go according to plan, we’ll be well clear of that.
It’s all kicking off this weekend. Spurs will face West Ham at 7:00 AM ET/12:00 PM BST on Sunday, September 6th. Tune in to find out whether we’ll finally stabilize, or if we’ll keep yo-yoing around the midtable forever, and read on for a more in-depth preview of what’s to come.
A look back at the 2025-26 season
I had aggressively mediocre hopes going into last season. We’d finished in 11th place the season before ahead of an abject Crystal Palace side, and Spurs dragged their feet in sacking Robert Vilahamn for an entire month after the season ended even though they had apparently known they were sacking him since January! That gives us a pretty good idea of how things were moving back then. The appointment of Martin Ho seemed smart, as did the signings of Toko Koga and Tinka Tandberg, but it didn’t seem like nearly enough to right the ship.
Good thing I don’t know ball. Martin Ho quickly got the side playing some nice football. The same players who looked lost and forlorn in the back half of the 2024-25 season actually looked like a team, and more than that, one that knew how to pass. Summer signings Tōko Koga and Tinka Tandberg quickly showed they were capable of handling the WSL, while Olivia Holdt and Clare Hunt took massive steps forward and became true stars of the team. That first half of the season was marred only by a particularly heavy defeat to Manchester City, and losing Jess Naz and Maite Oroz to ACL injuries.
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In January, Spurs signed Signe Gaupset, Hanna Wijk, Matilda Nildén and Julie Blakstad, and said goodbye to longtime club legend Ash Neville, among others. There was a little stutter in March when Clare Hunt, Charli Grant, Tōko Koga, and Maika Hamano went off to the Asian Games, leaving us extremely thin at centerback (a position where they’d really formed a great partnership and become responsible for a lot of the turnaround we saw last season). Clare Hunt came back injured (and still doesn’t seem to be training with the squad even now), and with a tricky schedule ahead of us, I started imagining a string of losses sending us back down to the bottom of midtable. But Amanda Nildén really stepped up, and we managed to end the season on a high in 5th place ahead of London City Lionesses and a promising Brighton Squad.
A busy summer
First team regulars Beth England and Molly Bartrip departed at the start of the summer, as did Amy James-Turner, Luana Bühler, Charli Grant, Josefine Rybrink, Eleanor Heeps, Kit Graham, Martha Thomas, Anna Csiki, and loanee Maika Hamano. This is really quite an extensive list, but many of those players had been on loan or had only played a handful of minutes over the last few seasons. In some ways it feels like the end of an era, in other ways it feels like we’re saying goodbye to a lot of players who were, well, involved in two near-relegations. Either way, I’m horribly aware of the slow march of time onward, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
We welcomed in a whole host of players to replace the numbers we lost. We’ll see Shekiera Martinez and Kirsty Hanson come into our attack, Victoria Pelova bolster midfield, Caitlin Dijkstra and (new club record signing) Alice Sombath shore up numbers in defense, and Selma Panengstuen duke it out with Lize Kop for the first choice goalkeeper spot.
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I’m particularly excited about Alice Sombath for the future – we’re now starting to see a bit of a pattern of u21 stars wanting to join the side, and it feels good to have people developing in the pipeline. I’m also encouraged by the signings of Victoria Pelova and Caitlin Dijkstra in particular as solid players who can provide cover in areas where we seriously, seriously needed it. Pelova in particular seems versatile, and while she seems to still be getting back on her feet after her ACL injury, it would be really, really cool if that worked out. If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know I love Kirsty Hanson. I think she ran pretty hot last season so I’m not sure exactly what to expect from her, but she and Shekiera Martinez seem like solid WSL players who will fit in well with the rest of our squad.
I also suppose we’ve begun to address the “no wide players” issue, if I squint. Kirsty Hanson is a pacy winger, maybe Jess Naz will return with something interesting after her ACL injury. Matilda Vinberg is technically a winger but seems to be at her best when she inverts. For width elsewhere on the pitch, Julie Blakstad seems to be able to work the touchline and put in crosses alright, and Martin does seem to prefer to keep our fullbacks wide rather than wingers. I’m starting to think this is enough different options. But I’ll get back to you on this as the season progresses.
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Of course, the guy who set up all that business – former director of football Andy Rogers – departed the club before any of it was even announced. This didn’t feel like the most auspicious start to the summer transfer window, but now that it’s behind us and we’ve got all six players in the door, I don’t really feel like complaining too much. There’s been no direct replacement yet, though it sounds like Rafi Moersen is somehow in the mix and Vinai Venkateshem is still appearing in videos, which I don’t really know how to feel about. I suppose we’ll learn more as the season progresses.
2026-27 Season Predictions
Now, if you’ll humor me, I’d like to make a few predictions about what’s going to happen this season. Let me know in the comments who you’d put for each of these categories.
Top Scorer
There are a few clear candidates here, namely Tinka Tandberg, Shekiera Martinez, Kirsty Hanson and Olivia Holdt. But which of the four?
Olivia Holdt was our top scorer last season. When she’s on the pitch, she will score. But with a whole host of new bodies in midfield and her tendency to fade after 60 minutes, it’s not clear to me how often that will be.
Tinka Tandberg stood out when she first arrived at Spurs, but she struggled with injury and fitness throughout the rest of the season. She still managed 6 goals on about the same xG, so if she can find her confidence and fitness again, she’s a shout. With Shekiera Martinez coming in, I’m wondering whether Spurs want to give her another development-oriented year, which means she still might not see a bunch of full nineties.
Amongst the newcomers, Kirsty Hanson was Aston Villa’s top scorer by a country mile last season, but she did outperform her xG by a significant margin to do that – 12 goals on 6.7 xG according to FotMob. Shekiera Martinez was West Ham’s top scorer with 6 goals, also by a country mile in a very poor West Ham side.
Beyond that, it’s not clear which of these players will be used when, or how often, or what their fitness will be like. If I had to pick with my heart, I’m picking Tinka Tandberg because I want to see her fulfill her dreams of becoming the next Harry Kane. But if I had to go with logic, I guess I’d go with Shekiera Martinez. I think she’ll get a lot more touches and hopefully a lot more shots in this Tottenham side. I should also throw Signe Gaupset on here because she slaps and might score a lot of goals.
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Top Assister
It’s anyone’s guess. Last season we had three players tied for three assists apiece – Olivia Holdt, Matilda Vinberg, and Julie Blakstad. I can’t make a convincing argument that any of these folks will end up top assister again over anyone else. What about Signe Gaupset? Kirsty Hanson popping in crosses? Victoria Pelova’s passing? I’m going to cop out and give a big old shrug on this one. Perhaps having a top assister is simply not in Martin Ho’s playbook.
Who am I most excited to watch?
Olivia Holdt does the craziest thing I’ve ever seen every time she’s on the pitch, and for that reason alone I have to pick her. I was starting to list players I was also excited to watch, and I went “Signe Gaupset, Tōko Koga, Alice Sombath, Ella Morris, Victoria Pelova, Tinka Tandberg, Jess Naz should she find form upon her return from her ACL injury…” and then I realized I was just listing the entire squad. Fuck it, I’m excited to watch all of them!
What will we struggle with?
Well, a few things.
- We’ve turned over almost all the leadership in the squad. We are now extremely young, and I’m worried there’s going to be a little bit of a lack of leadership or cohesion. Of course, these are all made up things so what am I even saying?
- Pace in defense. Martin Ho likes for his team to attack, which means they’re all pretty high up the pitch. Occasionally, teams with speedy wingers get in behind, and our very slow centerbacks are left racing to cover. Ella Morris isn’t slow when she plays fullback, and neither is Amanda Nildén. And what Tōko Koga lacks in pace she makes up for in positioning so brilliant it nearly seems magical. However, I kind of think this is still going to be an issue.
- As I said above, “no wide players” is off my struggle list. For now.
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Where will we place in the WSL?
Man, I really don’t know. We’ve definitely reinforced this summer, but so has nearly everyone else. Unlike previous years, there’s also been a bit of uncertainty around the top – Chelsea fans seem concerned about last season’s performance and their summer business. Manchester United seems to be slipping, too. In fact, former manager Mark Skinner reportedly left the club because he was upset about the lack of investment in the women’s team. Their opening day loss to London City Lionesses was… concerning to say the least.
Then there’s London City. Michelle Kang responded to their sixth place finish by backing up a big truck of cash to the door of basically every superstar on the market. They’ll have their quality from last year as well as multi Ballon D’or winner Alexia Putellas, Mapi León, Kadidiatou Diani and Rosa Kafaji. They totally dominated United on opening day, and it’s not clear to me whether we should be more concerned about London City or more eager to prey upon United’s apparent demise. My only hope here is that their manager isn’t that strong, and maybe it just won’t all come together.
I had concerns last season about Brighton and Liverpool (yes, I know they finished 11th – I still maintain they were supremely unlucky), but Brighton lost manager Dario Vidošić to an unnamed new opportunity literally a week ago, and Liverpool really don’t seem to have strengthened at all. I don’t see any other team making the leap up to best-of-the-rest contention, so I think it’s just the six teams I’ve mentioned above in contention for three Champions League spots.
I doubt we’ll overtake City or Arsenal this season, and despite concerns, I think Chelsea still just have superior talent and history. But United sure do seem to be there for the taking, and maybe London City just won’t cohere over the course of an entire season. Maybe. I’m an undying optimist so I’m going to say we’ll finish 4th. I don’t know that we can push any higher than that without signing or developing a true superstar.
Our opener against West Ham
For some reason, West Ham seems to always be a challenge for us no matter who is in charge of either team. This season, it’s still Rita Guarino. We beat her side last year, but she seemed promising for them – organized, compact, efficient in counterattacks. They’ve also strengthened with some players I really like, namely Ebony Salmon and Kelly Gago. We should handily dispatch them, but it is West Ham and we are bedding in quite a few new players so I’m not 100% confident.
You can tune in on Paramount+ and Sky Sports in the UK. I’m even going to wake up early to do so because I, for one, am just excited to see the team play some nice football!
