Beth Mead's on fire! World-class Lionesses star can help Arsenal claim Chelsea's WSL crown after superb return from injury

Mead has made no secret of how difficult she has found the road back to full fitness. It wasn't just the mental and physical toll of ACL rehabilitation that she had to contend with either. In January 2023, her mother June also sadly lost her battle with ovarian cancer.

Mead recently opened up on this dark time during an interview with the Independent. "In January I lost my Mum and because of the injury I couldn’t play football, which was always my escape, my happy place. Moments when people thought I was fine because of my outgoing personality, were very dark," she said

"It’s been a tough process to understand. Team-mates, people at the club, family and friends that supported me were so important, without them I could have been in a far darker place."

Mead's support network included partner Vivianne Miedema as well as team-mates Leah Williamson, Teyah Goldie and Laura Wienroither, who all suffered the same injury during the 2022-23 campaign.

Speaking to the BBC, Mead revealed how sharing the challenge of recovery with Miedema was a source of strength for both of them. "We were competitive in testing, who is doing better. It pushed us to get back quicker. But it has not been without its arguments and ups and downs," she said.

And when Mead did finally make her return against Aston Villa at the Emirates in October, she again paid tribute to the group. "I couldn't even look at the ACL club," she said "They saw the hard work I put in. If I turned around to them or the physios I would have probably got quite upset so I tried to avoid that. I said 'You'll know when you come back yourself.'"

Bringing Mead on was not a token gesture by Gunners boss Jonas Eidevall, though. When she entered the fray in the 88th minute, Arsenal were teetering on the brink of a crisis. 1-0 down at home against a struggling side, after previously failing to win their first two WSL games and also crashing out of Europe at hands of Paris FC, the Gunners had even held an impromptu, on-field team huddle after Maz Pacheco gave Villa a first-half lead.

Thankfully for the near 36,000 packed into the Emirates, Mead helped spark a dramatic late revival. After stand-in captain Katie McCabe blasted home an 92nd-minute equaliser at the front post, Mead dabbed a through ball into the path of Stina Blackstenius, only for the Swede to smash it into the woodwork.

The much-craved cathartic moment would come just a few seconds later, though. Finding some space on the edge of the box Mead received a Wubben-Moy pass and seemingly overhit her first touch, only to get her foot there in the nick of time and knock it into Alessia Russo's orbit. Her England team-mate then fired low into the bottom corner, despite Daphne van Domselaar getting a hand to it. Incredibly, Mead and Co had turned it around to earn their first WSL victory of the season.

"It’s been a long, long time coming," she said after the victory. "There have been a lot of hard days, a lot of good days. I think, 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."

Mead followed up her explosive cameo with some fitness-building substitute appearances against Man City and Leicester, before finally returning to the starting XI for the Gunners' trip to Brighton on November 19.

And things all clicked into place the following week when West Ham visited Meadow Park. Her first post-ACL goal was classic Mead. Found on the right wing by Kyra Cooney-Cross' long ball, she easily got free of Hawa Cissoko before bending a left-footed effort into the top corner.

Her second of the game was not quite as spectacular - a poacher's finish following outstanding work from Alessia Russo - but it gave her twice as much cause to celebrate at half-time. And, shortly after the West Ham win, England boss Sarina Wiegman added to Mead's list reasons to be cheerful.

It was only a matter of time before Mead was recalled to the Lionesses setup, and Wiegman pulled the trigger for the team's crucial UEFA Nations League fixtures against the Netherlands and Scotland.

"I’ve been smiling like a Cheshire cat since I got here," Mead revealed before the first game. "It’s been a year since I was here. I’ve worked hard, I’ve had a lot of tough days and I’m just super proud of myself, being able to get back into the fold and hopefully help the team at some point."

She didn't have to wait long to get on the field either, being introduced as a half-time substitute for Chloe Kelly when England were trailing 2-0 against the Netherlands at Wembley. Mead had a clear impact, adding decisiveness to the frontline as Ella Toone's second-half winner completed a quite remarkable turnaround in front of over 70,000 spectators.

Mead made her long-awaited return to the starting XI at Hampden Park a few days later - and quickly began making up for lost time. Within 13 minutes she had already set up Alex Greenwood for the opener with a wicked corner and another assist, as well as a goal of her own, would follow before the break.

In the end, the 6-0 win wasn't quite enough to secure England's passage into the Nations League finals - the Netherlands' late heroics made sure of it - but it was still a night of real significance for Mead.

Amid Chloe Kelly, Lauren Hemp and Lauren James all starting the season strongly and Nikita Parris among those staking a claim for a recall, performing so well will have put Mead straight back into Wiegman's plans.

But it was Chelsea, not Scotland, that Mead had saved her very best for. Games don't get much bigger than the WSL champions' trip to north London last Sunday. A victory for Emma Hayes' side would have put them six points clear at the summit, as they seek a fifth-straight league title this season, whereas an Arsenal win would draw them level heading into their final game before the winter break.

Fuelled by a record WSL crowd, the Gunners triumphed 4-1, with Mead's early strike - a wonderfully-composed finish in the box - setting the tone. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd soon hit back, but Arsenal responded with an Amanda Ilestedt header and an Alessia Russo brace to seal a huge three points.

It wasn't just Mead's goal that was impressive. Off the ball, she was a complete menace, not giving Niamh Charles - who's been so effective for Chelsea this season - a moment's peace. After the game Jonas Eidevall confirmed that preventing Chelsea's left-back from getting onto her favoured right foot was a key part of their game plan. Mead executed her coach's wishes perfectly, as well as looking dangerous when Arsenal won possession.

In her 74 minutes on the pitch, she completed three tackles and made two blocks, stats which underline her role in the team's effective and aggressive performance.

Mead acknowledged this herself at full time, telling reporters: "I think we made them have a poor game, we were aggressive, we were intense and everything about our game was what we have wanted to implement throughout the season."

After the game, Mead was also quizzed on whether the Chelsea win proved that the Gunners are good enough to lift the title, batting the question away with a classic footballer's non-answer. "I hope so but it’s a long season and there are a lot of competitive teams but we have a lot in this team to do well," she said.

Manager Eidevall was slightly more forthcoming, but still reluctant to lay the gauntlet down, responding: "It is our strongest performance so far this season but in football if you want to win things you have to be consistent. It’s great that we have this high but now we ask ‘what is our baseline? What is our standard?’ This is the hard thing, we need to recover, refresh mentally and physically and be ready on Wednesday again."

It's easy to understand why Arsenal are treading cautiously despite thrashing the champions. Chelsea may have been atrocious on Sunday, with manager Emma Hayes conceding her players were "bullied", but they have responded to setbacks plenty of times during their four previous title-winning campaigns.

That said, this defeat and performance did feel especially damaging for the Blues. Hayes herself - who is leaving at the end of the campaign to manage the USWNT - was in a brutal mood at full time, saying: "That’s as bad as I’ve seen us for a long time. The better team won by a country mile... They dominated in the duels; all phases of our play were poor. That’s not us at our best today, that’s probably us at our very worst."

Millie Bright's absence at the heart of the defence was harshly felt, but as Hayes alluded to, there were problems all over the place. Sam Kerr couldn't get into the game, Erin Cuthbert was completely overrun in midfield and the usually-reliable Ann-Katrin Berger had a stinker between the sticks. It was little surprise that Chelsea suffered their worst WSL defeat in five years.

Chelsea don't show weakness often and, as such, Arsenal must be smelling blood. And the Gunners have plenty of reasons to be optimistic of bettering Chelsea in the title race come May.

For starters, they still have so much talent to come back. Miedema has found the final stages of her injury recovery more challenging than Mead as she learns to trust her body again, but once she's back in the starting XI, Arsenal will have an unmatched goalscorer and potent creative presence at their disposal.

Then there's Williamson. Not only will the England captain's return strengthen the backline, she is also an option in the midfield and a huge leadership presence in the dressing room. Wienrother is a solid squad option too.

It's also likely that Arsenal will dip into the transfer market in January. Last season, they made a world-record bid for then-Manchester United star Russo, only to see their offer rejected. It's feasible that they could again test United's resolve in the new year, this time by attempting to prise Mary Earps away from Old Trafford.

Down the stretch, they should be fresher than Chelsea following their early elimination from the Champions League. Yes, the Gunners do have Conti Cup group games to contend with, but these have largely been used for rotation by Eidevall so far. Chelsea, meanwhile, have been going full throttle, playing three high-intensity matches per week.

Arsenal's emergence as strong WSL title contenders is a reminder of how quickly the narrative can shift in football. As Mead was making her return against Aston Villa, they looked pretty dysfunctional and Eidevall's position was being questioned for the first time.

Now, their star attacker is back to her lethal best, while the Swede has masterminded one of the most complete performances against Chelsea in recent memory.

It's been an outstanding month or so for Arsenal and they can now start dreaming of ending Chelsea's stranglehold over the WSL - ruining Hayes' curtain call in the process.

If they are going to usurp their London rivals as the queens of England, Mead will be the key piece up front. When a player goes away for this long, it can be easy to forget just how good they are. But make no mistake, Mead is world class and it's been a complete joy seeing her back doing what she does best.