WSL attendance record smashed at historic north London derby

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WSL attendance record smashed at historic north London derby

A new WSL attendance record has been set at the north London derby, with a crowd of 47,367 in the stands at the Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal beat Tottenham 4-0 on Saturday.

Goals from Beth Mead and Rafaelle and a Vivianne Miedema brace saw the Gunners to a comfortable victory.

The figure smashed the previous WSL attendance record, far eclipsing the 38,262 mark set at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November 2019 for the WSL's first north London derby. Arsenal ran out 2-0 winners on that occasion.

The game fell just short of becoming the all-time highest attendance for a domestic women's club match in England, which remains the estimated figure of 53,000 who saw Dick, Kerr Ladies play St. Helens at Goodison Park on Boxing day in 1920 - although Arsenal had sold 53,757 tickets for Saturday's fixture.

Speaking ahead of the fixture, Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall emphasised the importance of the fact that the tickets for the game had all been purchased, as opposed to given away or sold for a discounted price.

"Remember it's 50,000 sold tickets," said Eidevall. "It's not giveaways, it's not sold for a discounted price; it's sold tickets. "I think that's really, really special because that means doing this, the way the club has done it, it's sustainable. It shows that the interest there is for real.

"The investment that we as a team, the club has done, but also the past generations, the teams before us have done to put us onto this stage here, that's phenomenal. We feel that, and of course we want to go out, and we want to make the most of it so it can happen again more frequently."