Renee Slegers made a handful of big calls for Saturday's WSL trip to Tottenham, and the one that paid off most was giving Taylor Hinds her first league start of the season at left-back. Hinds had been left out of the matchday squad three times already, yet she played the pass to Russo that picked out Georgia Stanway's run for Arsenal's equaliser. Tandberg had put Spurs ahead on 13 minutes, Stanway levelled on 17 and Russo's penalty on 56 won it 2-1 on 24 October. Going into that afternoon Arsenal had won only once in six league games, so the result ended a five-game winless run in the WSL.
The selection made sense because this season Slegers has often used four right-footed defenders and put Ona Batlle at left-back. "She deserves to play today because of her performances in training," Slegers said afterwards, adding that Hinds "gives us a left foot on the left side". She said she was "so happy" to see Hinds play a North London derby "with such conviction and so much mobility" after a harder spell of her own.
There's more riding on it for Hinds than a club shirt, because she wasn't picked for England's October World Cup qualifiers for lack of playing time and wants to be at next summer's tournament. She made her England debut against Australia in October 2025, so she's still at the stage where club minutes decide whether she gets called up. She should keep her place at home to Benfica on Wednesday after her part in Arsenal's equaliser at Tottenham.
Over to the men's team, Gabriel Magalhães has reached 200 Premier League appearances, and he scored the second goal in the 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday.
Tonight's EFL Cup fourth-round trip to League Two Fleetwood Town deserves to be taken seriously by the Premier League champions, because a home side at Highbury can make a cup night awkward.
Bukayo Saka has won the Sócrates Award, a welcome bit of news.
In the academy, David Horseman's U21s lost 4-1 at Leicester City despite substitute Ceadach O'Neill's goal, which leaves them without a win in six Premier League 2 games before an EFL Trophy trip to AFC Wimbledon.
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