Arsenal managed to run home to their first home win of the Barclays Women’s Super League season on Friday night with a 5-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion. The Halfway Line had the opportunity to speak with goalscorer Beth Mead after a confidence boosting win at Emirates Stadium.
Mead returned to the starting lineup last night, and got Arsenal off on the right foot, scoring the opening goal in the 12th minute. Mead talked us through a vintage finish, laughing “Yeah, I love a good chop in the box! But I was happy that I was able to be a bit more composed and shape it round the defender. When it bounced off the post and I saw it go into the net I was very, very happy.”
She then laughed, “But at first I thought it was going to bounce off the post and come straight back out and I thought, please, not today, not today!”
‘This performance has been coming for us’
Mead helped Arsenal take the game to the visitors as the Gunners dominated Brighton on the occasion. Following the difficulties Arsenal have had this season, Mead reviewed the performance on the night.
“I thought first half we were very, very good. I thought we limited them to very minimal opportunities on goal. I think we allowed them into the game a lot more second half, credit to them I thought they did a lot better second half.
Ultimately, I think this result has been coming for us. This performance has been coming for us, and we were ruthless in front of goal today compared to last week when I thought we just couldn’t get the extra goal to put the game over the line”
We spoke with Mead about whether she expected Brighton to offer more of a challenge at the Emirates tonight, to which she maintained, “I think they played how they have been playing, I think we were very good. Like I said first half we were great we were on top of them, we capitalised on them trying to play out and then making mistakes. It was nice to capitalise on them chances today which we have not done in the past.”
Slegers has given Arsenal ‘confidence’
Arsenal are unbeaten under interim head coach Renée Slegers with three wins and a draw across all competitions. When asked about Slegers’ influence on the team, Mead responded “She hasn’t changed too much, she’s just given us all a bit of confidence, a bit of freedom. We’ve got a very good team of players and individuals and it is just starting to come together under her now.”
Mead and Caitlin Foord were switching wings and causing havoc for Brighton especially in the first half, I asked Mead about the pair’s understanding and how they decide which wing to attack, she explained, “I think its just the patterns of play. Sometimes you can end up there, we’ve got he freedom to be on different sides of the pitch.” She continued, “it’s not very nice to defend against, you don’t know who you’re marking, you don’t know where they are. We try to be a bit more free flowing in those moments.”
We asked Mead about her team mate Lina Hurtig, who scored her first goal in 362 days after her brace against Leicester last season. Beaming, Mead said “Yeah we were buzzing for her! I jumped right on her when she scored. She’s worked so hard and she’s had obviously such a tough time. So it was really really nice to see her get that moment.”
