The Gunners centre-back has taken her game to the next level over the past few months, and with others out injured, she should get her chance to start
There was plenty for Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall to be happy about following his side's emphatic 3-1 victory over Manchester United in front of a Women's Super League-record Emirates Stadium crowd on Saturday. Following a shock defeat to West Ham, as well as an FA Cup exit at the hands of Manchester City, the Swede has been under pressure recently, and the welcome win moved the Gunners back to within three points of leaders Chelsea with eight games to play.
Cloe Lacasse seriously impressed on a rare start, Beth Mead was unplayable at times and Lia Walti ran things in the middle of the park. But at full-time, Eidevall made sure to give his makeshift back four – disrupted by Leah Williamson and Amanda Ilestedt being absent – special credit for the victory, singling one player out in particular.
"We had to rejig and you could see Laia Codina, for example, she has been training really well so she was ready to play. But it is still a new back four to play together. But in that unit we have to acknowledge a player like Lotte Wubben-Moy. We have to acknowledge the level she is playing at this season and seeing how she develops," he said.
"A performance like she has today is incredible. I think it is something the whole club should be very proud of because she is Arsenal through and through. She is coming from our academy, our community and to see her excel the way she does at Emirates Stadium, it is fantastic. I am really, really happy for her and the club to see that."
Getty ImagesStepping up last season
Her manager's glowing appraisal after Saturday's huge result has been echoed by most onlookers throughout the current campaign. Almost every Arsenal fan would agree that Wubben-Moy is firmly in the conversation for the Gunners' Player of the Season award, while a spot in the WSL Team of the Year also seems likely if she continues on her current trajectory.
Wubben-Moy's emergence as a key player has not come out of the blue, though. Following Leah Williamson's devastating ACL injury last season, and with other starting centre-back Rafaelle missing a decent chunk of the 2022-23 campaign too, she stepped up when it mattered, playing near enough every minute of her side's congested run-in.
Forming an unorthodox partnership with Steph Catley at the heart of the defence, she chipped in with a string of vital contributions; none more so than in her side's Champions League semi-final second leg against Wolfsburg, where she provided the pinpoint cross for Jen Beattie's headed equaliser that sent the game to extra-time.
Heartbreakingly, it would be Wubben-Moy's tired error in that additional period that would eventually gift the German side their place in the final, but she did not let this setback affect her performances for the remainder of the season, scoring in Arsenal's victory over Everton a few weeks later, a result that went a long way to sealing their spot in the Champions League for the following campaign.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesReaching new heights
New heights have been reached since then, though, with few defenders enjoying better WSL seasons so far. And it was telling that when Williamson did return to the WSL starting line-up in February against West Ham, it was World Cup star Ilestedt that dropped to the bench, not Wubben-Moy, suggesting that the Englishwoman has risen to the very top of the defensive pecking order.
Delving into the statistics, it's not hard to see why. Earlier in her career, there were concerns that Wubben-Moy was not as effective in possession as some of her club and international colleagues. But this campaign, no outfield player has completed more long balls or racked up more progressive passing distance than her in the WSL.
She is also carrying the ball effectively; just five WSL players (Anna Patten, Maya Le Tissier, Laia Alexandri, Alex Greenwood and Jess Carter) have racked up more progressive distance than Wubben-Moy's 1766 yards this season. And of those players, just Greenwood has registered fewer minutes than the Arsenal star.
Wubben-Moy has always excelled at bread-and-butter defending too, and this has continued recently. Bunny Shaw, Sam Kerr and Rachel Daly are among the top-class centre-forwards that she has kept scoreless this season, and she is yet to make an error that's led to an opponent having a shot this term. Meanwhile, only Liverpool's towering forward Sophie Roman Haug has won more aerial duels.
Getty ImagesStruggling for international recognition
But amid this excellent run of form, Wubben-Moy has found international recognition under Sarina Wiegman hard to come by this season. She made her Lionesses debut back in 2021, coming on as a substitute during an emphatic friendly victory over Northern Ireland, eventually earning a maiden start in her side's infamous 20-0 thrashing of Latvia in November that same year.
Since then, she's been a near ever-present in England squads, only pulling out of a few camps due to injury. Despite this, her playing time has been frightfully limited. In fact, since that Latvia game, she's only managed a single start, a 45-minute outing in a friendly against Belgium in June 2022.
Thus, while she has a Euro 2022 winners' medal, and was a part of the Lionesses' impressive run to the 2023 World Cup final and Finalissima triumph, it all came as a spectator. That will surely change in the upcoming fixtures against Austria and Italy, though.
Getty ImagesTiming is everything
In the past, it's been easier for Wiegman to ignore Wubben-Moy. During the Euros, Williamson and Millie Bright were always going to be impossible to displace at the heart of defence. And at the World Cup, Greenwood and Carter each emerged as deserved starters as the England boss flipped between a back-three and back-four.
But in this camp, Bright and Williamson are unavailable due to injury, and it's hard to argue that Carter and Esme Morgan – who has taken a lot of Wubben-Moy's potential minutes in recent times – are in anything like the same form as her at club level. The same can also be said of United pair Le Tissier and Millie Turner.
With all of that in mind, and with two low-stakes games for Wiegman to experiment in coming up, it is surely time for Wubben-Moy to seize her opportunity.