Miedema breaks WSL record with hat-trick as Arsenal hammer Tottenham
Arsenal’s manager, Joe Montemurro, said Vivianne Miedema’s contract is “top of the list” and that the club will do “everything we can to make sure Viv remains a part of the group” after the 24-year-old Dutch striker scored a firsthalf hat-trick to become the Women’s Super League record goalscorer.
Her 52-goal tally has been achieved in only 50 games, fewer than half the number needed by the previous record holder, the former Manchester City forward Nikita Parris, who scored 49 in 110 games. Parris’s City teammate Ellen White has 48 in 104.
Miedema, whose contract is believed to expire in the summer of 2022, drew level with Parris’s record last weekend against Brighton, leaving her primed and ready to pounce in the more glamorous north London derby. “I’m happy I could help the team today and I hope there are a lot more goals to follow,” she said. “This season is still long and obviously I’ve got a contract here next season as well, so hopefully I can keep going. I’m happy that we won today and that was the main focus.”
Where it took 70 minutes for Arsenal to undo a resilient Spurs defence in the FA Cup three weeks ago, eventually scoring four, by half-time Montemurro’s side were 5-0 up, a stunning free-kick from the Republic of Ireland winger Katie McCabe giving them the lead in the fourth minute.
Three minutes later Miedema had the record. Sweeping down the left wing she slipped a pass to Daniëlle van de Donk. The latter, sensing the run of her compatriot, flicked the ball with the side of a foot into the path of the advancing Miedema, who collected and fired across goal and into the far corner.
A loud cheer went up from the Arsenal staff and injured players and there were even a couple of high-fives and a small smile from the stalking forward who rarely celebrates.
Montemurro said: “We see from a football perspective week by week the contribution Viv makes as a footballer and I’m blessed and lucky to be a part of her everyday scenario.”
Arsenal played with serious swagger despite severely depleted forces (seven first-team players remain sidelined, with the manager having said before the game that they were undergoing a “massive internal review” as a result of their third injury crisis in as many seasons) and a lofted long ball from the centre-back Leah Williamson found the Australian forward Caitlin Foord, who rolled the ball past Becky Spencer.
Then it was Miedema’s turn again. A McCabe free-kick was this time slipped to the Netherlands forward on the right and her on-target shot deflected off Alanna Kennedy and in. Five minutes later Miedema had her third, picking up Foord’s pass on the left and smacking a shot past Spencer.
This was a masterful performance from Miedema who, as Arsenal stretched their legs, began to play with the Spurs players as a cat would with a barely alive mouse, diving back to force a throw deep in her own half one minute and coolly dancing around three midfielders before slipping the ball backwards, then pulling players away and out of position the next.
Montemurro said: “She can get better. She’s a person who wants to get better, she wants to challenge herself because there’s still a lot of learning and development to go. I’m enjoying working with her and having her as part of the group, and as long as Viv’s smiling we’ll keep seeing a better Viv.”
Soon it was six, Beth Mead whipping a low cross in from the right and Foord’s shot deflecting off Ashleigh Neville and in to inflict further pain on a side who have not been able to add to the single point they picked up in an opening-day draw with West Ham.
There was a glimmer of positivity for Spurs when the substitute Lucía León went down under pressure from McCabe and was awarded a penalty but Manuela Zinsberger dived the right way to block Rianna Dean’s resulting spotkick and Neville put the rebound over.
Shortly afterwards Spurs did have a consolation – a first goal against the Gunners in their last three attempts– that will likely do little to lift spirits after such a bruising defeat, as León headed past Zinsberger from a corner.