Arsenal Women v Spurs Women - Karen and Juan's preview

Head Coach Juan Amoros says he hopes the women’s north London derby will grow to be just as momentous as the men’s fixture ahead of our big clash against Arsenal this weekend.

We'll go head-to-head with the Gunners in just our third competitive meeting when we play them in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) on Sunday (9 February).

In the first-ever WSL north London derby in November at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we lost out 2-0 on a day which saw us break the league attendance record with over 38,000 fans turning out on a historic day for the Club.

Reigning WSL champions Arsenal sit third in the league and have lost their last two league matches against Chelsea and Manchester City, while we sit seventh, in search of our first away win in the league since defeating Bristol City 2-1 in October at Stoke Gifford Stadium.

Ahead of the 2pm kick-off at Meadow Park on Sunday, Juan said: “North London derbies are such big games. We know how much the occasion means to the fans. Arsenal are one of the strongest teams in the league, but we need to step up and show that we are continuing to grow. Getting a positive result will be huge for us and the fans. It’s a fantastic experience to play in these derbies and usually a fantastic game. We hope this fixture becomes historic just like it is in men’s football.”

Head Coach Karen Hills added: “We’ve done well against the teams around us in the league but to pick up points against one of the top three is the aim and we are determined to make that happen. Arsenal have threats all over the pitch with fantastic players in every position. Vivianne Miedema is one of the top strikers in the world and our two centre-backs will be relishing the opportunity to play against a player of her calibre. We just need to be confident in our game plan, keep our concentration and make sure we’re putting any of our chances away.”

Reflecting on our defeat to the Gunners at the new stadium earlier this season, Juan and Karen highlighted the positives from that match and are hoping for a positive result in front of a sell-out crowd at Meadow Park on Sunday.

“From the defeat at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we learned that we can compete with one of the best teams in England,” Juan commented.

“But at the same time, if we don’t take our chances in front of goal we will get punished. I feel we are getting closer and closer to getting a victory against one of the teams at the top. It was a great day for everyone involved and for the fans, players and staff. We made history by breaking the WSL attendance record and I think that the performance from our players was outstanding in how they kept fighting, stuck together and made it extremely difficult for the Arsenal players.”

Karen said: “I thought we were very organised and the defeat was unfortunate. We were very unlucky and created some fantastic opportunities in the first half but unfortunately we were unsuccessful in converting them. Obviously when you’re playing against top sides, they’re going to be clinical and their quality in front of goal is why they are one of the top teams in this league - they create chances and they put them away. Hopefully we can be competitive against them again on Sunday and produce a performance that we can be proud of."

Karen and Juan will be without loanee defender Emma Mitchell on Sunday, who is ineligible to play against her parent club, Arsenal.

Tickets for this weekend’s north London derby at Meadow Park are sold out, but fans can follow the action live on BBC Red Button.

We’ll return to The Hive on Wednesday (12 February) to take on Everton in the league, kick-off is 7.30pm and fans can purchase tickets here.