Vivianne Miedema scored a hattrick against Slavia Prague on Thursday night, bringing up her ton as an Arsenal player and helping Arsenal into the group stages of the Champions League.

Vivianne Miedema, second from left, and Katie McCabe celebrate a goal during the UEFA Women s Champions League 2nd round match Slavia Praha vs Arsenal in Prague, Czech Republic, September 9, 2021. CTK Photo/Vit Simanek CTKPhoto
Vivianne Miedema, second from left, and Katie McCabe celebrate a goal during the UEFA Women s Champions League 2nd round match Slavia Praha vs Arsenal in Prague, Czech Republic, September 9, 2021. CTK Photo/Vit Simanek CTKPhoto

Is there another goalscoring player on the planet who can match Vivianne Miedema, who continues to smash records despite still only being 25?

Arsenal went into the the second leg of their Champions League qualifier with a 3-0 win from the first leg and progressions all but ensured.

A goalless first half was then followed by a 13 minute Miedema hattrick in the second half before Kim Little made it 4-0 with a penalty.

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After the game, Jonas Eidevall said of Miedema scoring 100, “It’s an incredible achievement, I am told it was in 110 games and 97 starts with zero penalties and that you have to remember.

“To score that many goals and for none of them to be penalties, I think the numbers speak for themselves. She doesn’t only score goals, there are also a lot of assists too. I am very proud to be a small, small part of her career and I think the club should be very proud to have a player like this.

“We are all very happy for her.”

Eidevall was then asked if he thought Miedema was the best player in the world. “I have not seen every player in the world but the things that Viv does with the ball and how easy she makes everything look so easy is on another level and it’s incredible to watch and to work with.

“The way she controls the ball and sees solutions on the pitch, she is definitely the best player that I have ever worked with.”

The elephant in the room, of course, is the fact Miedema is out of contract at the end of this season. Can Eidevall and Arsneal convince her to sign a new deal? “Nobody is trying to hide that we would like Viv to stay on but I understand from Viv’s perspective and the sort of player she is that it’s important for her to see the direction the club is going in and for her when the time is right to take a decision about her future.

“I am of the opinion that when you see the squad we have today that, of course, we can have external players coming in to make us better but the most important thing will be to try to keep the foundation of this group and to keep building with them.

“That’s sometimes harder in women’s football compared to men’s football because of the shorter contracts but we need to do both, to extend contracts and to get the best players p”ossible externally.