Arsenal striker Beth Mead admitted she shocked both herself and Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger with the first of her goals on Sunday, with the latter telling the former she “didn't know you had a left foot”.
The Gunners kicked off their WSL campaign with a 3-2 victory on Sunday, with Mead scoring a double to add to Vivianne Miedema's opener.
Both of Mead's strikes were fine efforts, but it was her left-footed rocket to make it 2-1 that stood out the most.
What was said?
Latching on to a superb through-ball from Miedema to restore Arsenal's lead early in the second half, Mead told Sky Sports of her goal: “Viv's world-class and she probably seen that ball before I made the run.
“It was funny actually – after the game Berger actually shouted to me that she didn't know I had a left foot. I surprised myself! I just tried to stay composed in front of the goal and luckily my left foot worked today.”
Next matches
Signal of intent
Head coach Jonas Eidevall's charges were visibly exhausted after the full-time and Mead feels that she and her team-mates are now working at a level that could see them overcome the disappointment of losing out to their main WSL rival teams so many times in the past.
“It's hard to put into words. It's been a long time coming. We've had a lot of seasons when we've fell short in these games,” she said. “Jonas is big on working hard and I'm sure you seen that on the pitch today, girls were falling to their knees they were working that hard. Amazing start to the season and what a shift from the girls.
“We're working hard, we've worked hard in pre-season and we're a team that want to fight for the title. We won't make it easy for these teams and hopefully we can continue to do that for the rest of the season.”
Injury concern?
Mead took a knock into the advertising boards near the end of the game but the player of the match insisted that it was nothing to worry about, adding: “I'm fine, just being a drama queen!”
