Beth Mead says she is “ready to compete” for England again after making her return for Arsenal at the weekend following an 11-month injury layoff. The forward came on in the 88th minute against Aston Villa and contributed towards her side coming from 1-0 behind to secure a dramatic 2-1 win.
Sarina Wiegman will name her England squad on Tuesday for the Nations League double-header against Belgium at the end of the month and Mead says she is hopeful she “gets a chance” to be included. “Unfortunately I am not a mind reader, I don’t know where her [Wiegman’s] brain is at the moment,” Mead said. “I am ready to compete. If Sarina thinks so or not is a different story. But in my own head, I am ready to compete.”
Mead described the reception from the Arsenal fans at the Emirates as “pretty incredible” as she marked her return after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament in November 2022 with an assist for Alessio Russo. “It’s been a long, long time coming,” she said. “There have been a lot of hard days, a lot of good days. I think, ultimately, you want to do your job, you want to do something you love – and that had been taken away for such a long time.”
Mead said she was hopeful that Arsenal could do something “special” this season with the new additions that they have made to the squad: “Me and Less [Russo] have had the chance to play together a little bit. I think it was nice that we got that chance to link up and it got the winner. I am excited to try and break back into the team, compete for a position again.”
Arsenal have eight players vying for the forward positions after the summer arrival of Cloé Lacasse added to options including Vivianne Miedema, who is out injured, Lina Hurtig and Stina Blackstenius. Mead said the intensity in training is “incredible” and ultimately will help the team improve after a poor startto the season. Arsenal went out of the Champions League at the qualifying stage and took one point from their first two WSL games.
“We are being competitive, working each other really, really hard,” Mead said. “To get on that pitch you need to be playing well, and ultimately that’ll help the team. You could see the talent that came on the pitch for us today. You have gamechangers and players [off the bench] changed the game [against Villa].”
