Beth Mead hopes to be named in the England squad tomorrow after making an instant impact for Arsenal on her first appearance in more than 300 days.
The striker came on with only two minutes of normal time remaining and Arsenal trailing but she helped turn the game as she set up Alessia Russo’s 94th-minute winner after Katie McCabe had equalised.
It was a dream comeback for Mead, who injured her knee last November, forcing her to miss this summer’s Women’s World Cup.
England host Belgium in the Nations League in Leicester a week on Friday, with the sides meeting again in Leuven four days later. Head coach Sarina Wiegman will name her squad tomorrow, having been at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
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.
“I am a hopeful person. Hopefully, I get a chance to speak to Sarina at some point in the next few days and we will go from there.
“Unfortunately I am not a mind reader, I don’t know where her brain is at the moment!”
Arsenal have been carefully building Mead’s fitness and she also took part in an in-house training game with their youth team last Wednesday. The 28-year-old played just 14 minutes yesterday and Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall has stressed the need to continue managing her workload.
“It’s not like she’s coming on from here doing 15 minutes and now she’s a 90-minute player from here on,” he said.
“It doesn’t work like that, but we work closely with the medical team, like we have been doing all the way here now until she was able to be selected.
“It’s really important that we manage this return-to-play process in a good way and that has not ended yet just because she did 15 minutes on the pitch.”
Arsenal had looked on course to make it three Women’s Super League games in a row without a win until Mead’s arrival late on.
Aston Villa took the lead midway through the first half when Mayumi Pacheco was able to head home unmarked from a corner. The Gunners, however, produced a stirring comeback to the delight of the bulk of the 35,000 fans at the Emirates.
McCabe struck in the 92nd minute and moments later Russo completed the fightback by combining with her Lionesses team-mate Mead.
Late scenes from Meado and Russo 🤯 pic.twitter.com/xeRN1DoB2h
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) October 15, 2023
“Me and Less have had the chance to play together a little bit [with England],” said Mead. “I think it was nice that we got that chance to link up today and it got the winner.
“I am excited to try and break back into the team, compete for a position again. Hopefully, we can do something special throughout the season.
“It’s been a long, long time coming. There have been a lot of hard days, a lot of good days. 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. So to be able to get out there, with that type of reception from the fans, was pretty incredible.”
The win ensured Arsenal did not lose more ground on the early leaders in the WSL. Manchester City are top on seven points from three games, with Chelsea third due to a worse goal difference.
Arsenal are just three points off them and Eidevall praised his side for chasing the win following their equaliser.
“That’s the mentality all the way through,” he said. “Like are we happy to just get a 1-1 at home? No, of course not.
“It’s moments like that — you don’t buy them in the cinema, right? It’s the unpredictability of football.”
