Arsenal’s Beth Mead has given an exclusive interview to the Telegraph where she talked about her hopes for the upcoming World Cup in France and starting her life as a footballer when she was also a pot-washer.

BOREHAMWOOD, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: Beth Mead of Arsenal looks on during the The Football Association Women's Super League match between Arsenal Women and Bristol City Women at Meadow Park on March 14, 2019 in Borehamwood, England. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)
BOREHAMWOOD, ENGLAND – MARCH 14: Beth Mead of Arsenal looks on during the The Football Association Women’s Super League match between Arsenal Women and Bristol City Women at Meadow Park on March 14, 2019 in Borehamwood, England. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)

Beth Mead has been integral to Arsenal’s success this season as they returned to the Champions League and look poised to win the league.

With England, she has also been shining and is certain to be on the plane for France when Phil Neville announces his team.

Recently, she was the talk of the game for this effort with her country:

https://twitter.com/Lionesses/status/1100888373705748480

And she starts her interview talking about that strike.

“I hit it literally with everything that I had,” Mead told the Telegraph’s Katie Whyatt.

“I couldn’t ever replicate that if someone asked me to. It’s an instinctive thing. The best things come when you do stuff without thinking.” She did it again the following week against Liverpool but she certainly doesn’t practice it, adding, “I think if I ever did I’d get worse.”

Mead’s rise to the top with Arsenal and England has been sharp since she arrived in London. The “little girl from Whitby” signed for Middlesbrough before moving to Sunderland in 2011. Six years there saw the Gunners move for her and she hasn’t looked back since.

“I started off as a pot washer there [at the pub she worked in while playing for Sunderland], and then I went to be a waitress, and then I went on to the bar.”

Now, the 23-year-old is having dinner with Petr Cech.

“He said if we beat Chelsea he’d take us out for food, anywhere we want. We won 5-0. He booked us out a private room for the night, paid for it all. He stuck to his word. He actually said, ‘Don’t take anything from me right now because you’re doing better than the men’. He’s in the gym a lot and he speaks to all of us.”

Arsenal women return to action on Sunday against Everton. Win that and they will need one win from their next two games to seal the title.