Jess Naz is back for the north London derby

A week on from a 6-2 mauling by Chelsea, Martin Ho has gone back to the drawing board. The Tottenham boss has made three changes to his starting XI for Saturday's visit of Arsenal, a scoreline-shaped reminder of why survival mode has crept into the conversation around his side this autumn.

Renée Slegers, by contrast, arrives with a squad coming off a 1-1 draw with Birmingham rather than a hiding, but a draw against a side below them in the pecking order still stings for a club with Arsenal's ambitions. Slegers has made four changes of her own, a sign she wants sharper legs and fresher ideas against a wounded rival who will fancy playing with nothing to lose.

Naz's return adds the subplot

The team news that will get people talking has nothing to do with tactics. Jess Naz is back among the substitutes for Tottenham having recovered from an ACL injury, the kind of long road back that makes even a place on the bench feel like a result in itself. Whether she gets minutes against Arsenal or not, her name on the team sheet is the first marker on the way back to regular involvement.

Why this one matters more than usual

North London derbies carry their own weight regardless of form, but context sharpens this one. Tottenham are trying to stop the rot after conceding six to Chelsea, and a derby is either the worst possible place to do that or exactly the stage that turns a team around. Arsenal, meanwhile, will want evidence that the Birmingham draw was a blip rather than a pattern, and nothing answers that question like three points away at a rival.

Full team sheets and the final picture from kick-off were still filtering through as live coverage ran, but the shape of both managers' thinking is already clear: changes, urgency, and in Tottenham's case, a familiar face edging back towards the pitch.