Lotte Wubben-Moy makes Arsenal title vow and lifts lid on England dream

Anyone who paid a sojourn to either the Emirates oregon Meadow Park past play would astir apt person grown beauteous accustomed to proceeding the Arsenal fans loop retired an emphatic chorus of KC and The Sunshine Band's 'Give It Up'.

The 1982 classical was fixed regular airings successful northbound London and Borehamwood past word acknowledgment to the imperious signifier of defender Lotte Wubben-Moy, whose sanction has been seamlessly woven into the lyrics by the Gunners' support. The defender was 1 of the standout performers successful the Women’s Super League (WSL) successful 2023/24, truthful overmuch truthful that she was voted Arsenal’s Player of the Season and besides earned a spot successful the PFA Team of the Year.

“I've travel disconnected the backmost of a truly palmy play for myself personally,” Wubben-Moy tells Mirror Football. “As a team, we came up abbreviated successful the league and missed retired connected qualifying for the Champions League truthful there's a batch that I privation to usage from past play to spur maine connected and motivate maine onwards for this season.”

In spite of Arsenal’s corporate disappointments past word - Jonas Eidevall’s broadside finished 3rd successful the WSL, 5 points down champions Chelsea - it was the astir awesome idiosyncratic run of Wubben-Moy’s vocation to date. The 25-year-old is Arsenal done and through, having joined the club’s Centre of Excellence astatine the property of 13 earlier making her elder debut successful 2015.

A stint successful the United States followed arsenic the centre-back sought to further her acquisition astatine the University of North Carolina. But aft the coronavirus pandemic chopped her clip overseas short, she re-joined the nine successful 2020 and has since been steadily moving to found herself arsenic a first-team mainstay.

“I analysed a batch of my performances and worked beauteous intimately with our adjunct coach, Renee (Slegers),” Wubben-Moy says erstwhile asked to pinpoint the factors down past season’s scintillating form.

“I besides did things distant from Arsenal and focused connected my headspace. I did yoga each time - those benignant of marginal gains that I focused connected to springiness maine an edge. This year, I'm looking to turn successful antithetic ways arsenic well. I've already got my sights acceptable connected immoderate areas that tin proceed to propulsion my crippled onwards due to the fact that I don't privation to plateau. I privation to support connected improving.”

Certainly, Arsenal volition request Wubben-Moy to beryllium astatine her precise champion if they are to realise their ambitions this season, with the Gunners bidding to vie connected 4 fronts, including successful the Champions League.

“We're a nine that aspires to win,” the defender says. “That’s our modular and our anticipation domestically, but besides internationally. Then erstwhile you incorporated the Champions League, we're built for those three-game weeks. We've got a large squad with a batch of endowment and lessons that we've learned from past seasons that we tin hopefully usage this season. We privation to deed the crushed moving aboriginal and hopefully that momentum follows america done into the season.”

It has been a hard summertime for Wubben-Moy, whose play was chopped abbreviated by a plantar fascia teardrop that besides ruled her retired of England’s European qualifiers. As a result, the defender spent overmuch of the off-season rehabbing astatine Arsenal’s Sobha Realty Training Centre and had to negociate her pre-season minutes up of the caller campaign.

“I'm lone conscionable coming backmost into the plaything of things now, which has been a spot frustrating,” she admits. “But you request to proceed to emotion your body, and I request to beryllium diligent with wherever I'm astatine and getting backmost into my flow.”

While uncovering that travel volition beryllium important if Arsenal are to situation for silverware this season, it volition besides beryllium instrumental successful ensuring Wubben-Moy achieves her idiosyncratic people of making Sarina Wiegman’s England squad for adjacent summer’s European Championship. The defender was portion of the squad that triumphed astatine the Euros successful 2022, though she didn’t marque it onto the transportation astatine the tourney - thing she is hoping to rectify adjacent twelvemonth successful Switzerland.

“To beryllium progressive successful the Euros successful 2022 was highly special,” she says. “Every idiosyncratic that was portion of that played a cardinal role. I'd beryllium much than excited to play a relation adjacent summer. My sights are acceptable connected a starting spot, and I conjecture the run for that starts this play truthful I'll beryllium pushing for that week in, week out. But I'm idiosyncratic who’s driven by the process, and I cognize that is thing that I person to look towards each day.

“That extremity end looms ample but, if I unrecorded each time arsenic I anticipation to, past I’ll get to wherever I privation to go. Whether that means a starting spot, who knows, but that's decidedly thing I'm pushing for.”

A large portion of that propulsion volition instrumentality spot astatine the Emirates, wherever Arsenal volition beryllium playing each of their WSL games this term. The Gunners person agelong been regarded arsenic pioneers successful the realm of women’s shot and it is that concerted effort to turn the crippled that Wubben-Moy believes makes the nine truthful special.

“Without everyone down the scenes astatine the club, not lone astatine that apical level, but besides the backroom unit that enactment with america each day, we wouldn't beryllium wherever we are,” she admits. “They've been pushing tickets. They're the squad down the team. And evidently it takes a colony to get to wherever we are close present and I deliberation a batch of teams are looking astatine Arsenal and saying: ‘What tin we bash to get to wherever you are?’”

“I think, recognition to us, we've been sharing that information, due to the fact that we're funny successful increasing the crippled arsenic good arsenic increasing ourselves, and we cognize that successful bid to rise the ceiling, we person to rise the floor. It's going to instrumentality a portion but there’s a batch that Arsenal are doing to pb the way.”

While Arsenal mightiness beryllium starring the mode connected the pitch, Wubben-Moy is making plentifulness of waves of it and is simply a staunch advocator for encouraging girls to instrumentality up sports. It is for that crushed the defender was truthful keen to get progressive with Venus’ ‘Move Your Skin: Re-write The Rules’ campaign.

The inaugural is inspired by caller probe which revealed that implicit a 3rd of women (38%) bash not privation to enactment successful athletics due to the fact that they interest astir the mode their tegument looks. As portion of the campaign, Wubben-Moy teamed up with Olympians Becky Downie and Emily Campbell to assistance with the unveiling of a almighty installation astatine London’s Olympic Park which endeavours to nonstop a wide connection that athletics should beryllium accessible to each and the bequest from sporting tournaments should beryllium felt by each women and girls.

“Venus came to maine 2 years agone and it was beauteous plain and elemental for me,” Wubben-Moy says. “They told maine that a 3rd of women don’t get to enactment successful sports due to the fact that of them being aforesaid conscious of the mode their tegument looks.

“That statistic is what ignited this full campaign. The run is each astir encouraging women to beryllium their existent selves. To person installations similar the 1 astatine the Olympic Park is beauteous breathtaking and hopefully it starts immoderate conversations.

“This is 1 of many, galore barriers of entree to sport. And if we tin propulsion down this one, past we're 1 measurement person to getting much women into sport. As overmuch arsenic I tin usage my level and however impactful athletics tin be, I'm going to beryllium doing that.”

For much accusation astir the campaign, sojourn Venus astatine GilletteVenus.co.uk and connected Instagram.

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