Tottenham star suffers horrific black eye in referee-missed incident

Tottenham Hotspur Women star Amanda Nilden has a black eye after their 4-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Spurs comfortably won their first Women’s Super League game of the season against newly-promoted Eagles.

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Head coach Robert Vilahamn has been forced to make a number of signings this summer, with marquee stars Grace Clinton and Celin Bizet both departing.

England international Clinton was a key player last season but was on loan from Manchester United and so returned to her former club, while Bizet, who formed a close bond with the midfielder, subsequently signed for the Red Devils.

However, that setback was quickly repaired by Bizet’s replacement Hayley Raso, who put in a brilliant performance on her debut against Crystal Palace at Brisbane Road.

She opened the scoring for Tottenham with a low strike, before Jess Naz, Drew Spence and Olga Ahtinen’s rocket effort gave the hosts a comprehensive victory.

The Eagles, embarking on their first ever WSL season, have certainly made an impact.

And Spurs’ Swedish left-back Amanda Nilden can certainly attest to that.

Just eight minutes into the clash, Palace star Josie Green launched into a high ball with Nilden while leading with her elbow.

The collision, before the ball reached the two players, left the Swede lying on the ground, but referee Amy Fearn allowed play to continue before realising the extent of the injury.

The treatment lasted three minutes, but Nilden managed to complete 87 minutes before being replaced by Charli Grant.

However, after the match, Nilden presented the results of the incident.

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On Instagram, she posted a photo of herself with a black eye and a blood-soaked bandage where it appeared one or two stitches had been administered.

In the post, she wrote: “3 points and a black eye (celebration emoji). Great start to the season (four white heart emojis).”

After the match, Vilahamn was delighted with the victory but admitted that despite his four goals, his team will work on their finishing.

He said: “I think I’ve learned that we shouldn’t be stressed at half-time if the pressure isn’t working or we’re not really scoring goals.

“If you keep going and going for 90 minutes, we are good enough to be able to create chances against the opponent.

“But maybe we also need to practice finishing even more clearly, because the goalkeeper was incredible. But we can actually be a little bit better in that area.”

“But on the other hand, the first game, the next one, is against Aston Villa away. It will be a very difficult game. So we can’t be too happy about that.

“We have to analyse that and make sure we perform well next week.”