Beth Mead and Lauren James spoke exclusively to Sky Sports ahead of the WSL season; Arsenal's Mead talked about Vivianne Miedema's departure and playing at the Emirates; Chelsea's James shared her individual goals and explained the similarities between Emma Hayes and Sonia Bompastor
Sunday 22 September 2024 08:07, UK
The Women's Super League is "harder to win than ever before", Beth Mead tells Sky Sports as she looks forward to a ninth season at Arsenal.
As the north London side head into another WSL campaign, ending Chelsea's five-season reign as champions is at the top of their priority list. If they did so, Arsenal would claim their first league title since 2019.
Mead is one of five survivors from the last Arsenal squad that lifted the title. The prospect of a new challenge to return to the summit of English football has been dented by the departure of Vivianne Miedema to rivals Manchester City. Miedema left after seven seasons with the Gunners during which she became the all-time WSL top goalscorer.
The Netherlands striker's exit sent ripples throughout the women's game, with Arsenal's credentials and ambitions to win the league drawn into question by some.
"It's okay if people aren't backing us," Mead told Sky Sports.
"It's been a frustrating few years. We've been there and thereabouts a few times for the league but it's not been good enough.
"We were devastated to see Miedema leave and go to a rival team. It's not nice to lose team-mates. She was a big player in the dressing room, her returns speak volumes.
"It's not easy, especially when you've had a player there that long who you're so used to playing with and is so good on and off the pitch for us. But you adapt, you learn and you try and do your best again with the team that we've got.
"It's part of football now. Football is a big business in the women's game now and these things will happen.
"Now we've got some signings in that hopefully are going to make a big difference for us. And I'm very excited with the team we've got."
Chelsea have undergone some major changes of their own. Emma Hayes announced she would leave her role as boss after 12 years at the club, winning 15 honours, including two doubles and a domestic treble. Lauren James believes the faith shown in her by Hayes allowed her to be herself on the pitch.
"Hayes had a massive impact on me," James told Sky Sports.
"She had an arm around me when I needed it and was there to tell me when I needed to be told. She showed a lot of faith in me to bring me back to Chelsea.
"Throughout our three years together, she played a massive role in allowing me to be myself and play freely."
Former Lyon boss Sonia Bompastor has been tasked with replacing the long-serving Hayes at Chelsea. The French manager comes with a pedigree of her own having won three consecutive Division 1 Feminine titles and leading Lyon to a league and European double in 2022. Despite a change in the dugout, James expects standards to remain the same.
"They're obviously two very different managers," she said.
"But both managers have a mindset of winning and have won things and big things as well. Things take time, but she's settling in with the team and everyone's adjusting to her well."
The level of competition in the WSL means greater emphasis has been placed on every single game. Arsenal's season begins at the Emirates against Manchester City on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
City finished five points ahead of Arsenal in second place last season and, now after poaching a poacher in Miedema, their title hopes have been lifted.
"It's not going to be an easy game," Mead said.
"There are pros and cons with having such a hard game at the start of the season.
"If you start the season well and you beat one of your rival teams, then it puts you in a good position to start the league campaign off.
"Hopefully we're on the good end, starting off with three points but consistency throughout this season is going to be massive as the league is becoming more competitive. Your bottom teams are now becoming even harder to play against.
"We've just got to go about our business and just try and get three points on the board each week.
"It's not going to be easy but hopefully we can perform to a consistent level throughout the season and that hopefully can get us over the line."
James finished joint-second in the goalscoring charts behind WSL player of the season Khadija Shaw. She found the back of the net 13 times in 16 league games last season.
Her return was an improvement from the season prior where she scored five times. After being nominated for the Player of the Season award, James has her eyes on continuing her trajectory both personally and with the club.
Each year you obviously want to do better than you did last," James said.
"I just keep trying to score and help the team win as much as possible. Every year it always gets harder [to keep winning]. Every year Chelsea always want to make their mark.
"For us, this season is about finding and being consistent because all of the teams just keep improving and players are coming and going, so the competition is harder each season."
On a personal level for Mead, the new season arrives almost a year after her return following her anterior cruciate ligament injury kept her out of action for 330 days.
Mead returned in October 2023 with a match-winning assist off the bench against Aston Villa in a 2-1 comeback victory at a bouncing Emirates.
Mead managed eight goals and four assists for Arsenal last season in 16 starts for the club, putting 11 months of what she describes as a "gruelling" recovery behind her.
"It was long. It was hard. It was gruelling," she said, recalling her experience on the sidelines.
"I had ups and downs and I had days where I couldn't be bothered to do the same tedious things.
"I came back at the Emirates and the noise from the crowd, the appreciation from your team-mates to seeing what you've gone through to then get back to that point again was just mentally worth it.
"It seemed to take away all of those bad days during rehab. But it's not an easy process to go through.
"It's a space I've never had to be in before. I hadn't had an injury of that length before.
"I was proud of the moment that I came back on that pitch to do what I could again."
In May, Arsenal announced that the Emirates would become Arsenal's main home in the 2024/25 season.
The news is a reflection of the growing popularity of women's football. However, it adds another challenge with players having to adapt from playing at Meadow Park regularly in front of a capacity of 4,500 fans to the Emirates which holds 60,000. However, for Mead, the transition is one the Arsenal squad are ready for.
"Weirdly the Emirates does feel like home," she said.
"We've got so many chances to play there more regularly. But originally it was a big jump from playing in front of 3,000 people to 60,000.
"It's something we've had to get used to. Wherever we are, wherever we play, we've got to make that a fortress of our own.
"The girls that we've brought into the team, like Mariona Caldentey is very used to playing in front of big crowds at Barcelona and Nou Camp when they had 90,000 people come to watch their games. So hopefully they settle into it very smoothly as well.
"Playing at the Emirates regularly comes with a lot more pressure and expectation. It's all about us dealing with that as a team and individuals."
Fuelled by the Emirates and a dressing room intent on proving the doubters wrong, can Arsenal end their wait for glory or will a Chelsea side, under new management continue their reign of dominance?
