Lotte Wubben-Moy makes Arsenal title vow and lifts lid on England dream

Anyone who paid a visit to either the Emirates or Meadow Park last season would probably have grown pretty accustomed to hearing the Arsenal fans belt out an emphatic chorus of KC and The Sunshine Band’s ‘Give It Up’.

The 1982 classic was given regular airings in north London and Borehamwood last term thanks to the imperious form of defender Lotte Wubben-Moy, whose name has been seamlessly woven into the lyrics by the Gunners’ support. The defender was one of the standout performers in the Women’s Super League (WSL) in 2023/24, so much so that she was voted Arsenal’s Player of the Season and also earned a place in the PFA Team of the Year.

“I’ve come off the back of a really successful season for myself personally,” Wubben-Moy tells Mirror Football. “As a team, we came up short in the league and missed out on qualifying for the Champions League so there’s a lot that I want to use from last season to spur me on and motivate me onwards for this season.”

In spite of Arsenal’s collective disappointments last term – Jonas Eidevall’s side finished third in the WSL, five points behind champions Chelsea – it was the most impressive individual campaign of Wubben-Moy’s career to date. The 25-year-old is Arsenal through and through, having joined the club’s Centre of Excellence at the age of 13 before making her senior debut in 2015.

A stint in the United States followed as the centre-back sought to further her education at the University of North Carolina. But after the coronavirus pandemic cut her time overseas short, she re-joined the club in 2020 and has since been steadily working to establish herself as a first-team mainstay.

“I analysed a lot of my performances and worked pretty closely with our assistant coach, Renee (Slegers),” Wubben-Moy says when asked to pinpoint the factors behind last season’s scintillating form.

“I also did things away from Arsenal and focused on my headspace. I did yoga every day – those sort of marginal gains that I focused on to give me an edge. This year, I’m looking to grow in different ways as well. I’ve already got my sights set on some areas that can continue to push my game onwards because I don’t want to plateau. I want to keep on improving.”

Certainly, Arsenal will need Wubben-Moy to be at her very best if they are to realise their ambitions this season, with the Gunners bidding to compete on four fronts, including in the Champions League.

“We’re a club that aspires to win,” the defender says. “That’s our standard and our expectation domestically, but also internationally. Then when you incorporate the Champions League, we’re built for those three-game weeks. We’ve got a big squad with a lot of talent and lessons that we’ve learned from past seasons that we can hopefully use this season. We want to hit the ground running early and hopefully that momentum follows us through into the season.”

It has been a difficult summer for Wubben-Moy, whose season was cut short by a plantar fascia tear that also ruled her out of England’s European qualifiers. As a result, the defender spent much of the off-season rehabbing at Arsenal’s Sobha Realty Training Centre and had to manage her pre-season minutes ahead of the new campaign.

“I’m only just coming back into the swing of things now, which has been a bit frustrating,” she admits. “But you need to continue to love your body, and I need to be patient with where I’m at and getting back into my flow.”

While finding that flow will be crucial if Arsenal are to challenge for silverware this season, it will also be instrumental in ensuring Wubben-Moy achieves her personal target of making Sarina Wiegman’s England squad for next summer’s European Championship. The defender was part of the squad that triumphed at the Euros in 2022, though she didn’t make it onto the pitch at the tournament – something she is hoping to rectify next year in Switzerland.

“To be involved in the Euros in 2022 was extremely special,” she says. “Every individual that was part of that played a key role. I’d be more than excited to play a role next summer. My sights are set on a starting spot, and I guess the campaign for that starts this season so I’ll be pushing for that week in, week out. But I’m someone who’s driven by the process, and I know that is something that I have to look towards every day.

“That end goal looms large but, if I live every day as I hope to, then I’ll get to where I want to go. Whether that means a starting spot, who knows, but that’s definitely something I’m pushing for.”

A big part of that push will take place at the Emirates, where Arsenal will be playing all of their WSL games this term. The Gunners have long been regarded as pioneers in the realm of women’s football and it is that concerted effort to grow the game that Wubben-Moy believes makes the club so special.

“Without everyone behind the scenes at the club, not only at that top level, but also the backroom staff that work with us every day, we wouldn’t be where we are,” she admits. “They’ve been pushing tickets. They’re the team behind the team. And obviously it takes a village to get to where we are right now and I think a lot of teams are looking at Arsenal and saying: ‘What can we do to get to where you are?’”

“I think, credit to us, we’ve been sharing that information, because we’re interested in growing the game as well as growing ourselves, and we know that in order to raise the ceiling, we have to raise the floor. It’s going to take a while but there’s a lot that Arsenal are doing to lead the way.”

While Arsenal might be leading the way on the pitch, Wubben-Moy is making plenty of waves of it and is a staunch advocate for encouraging girls to take up sports. It is for that reason the defender was so keen to get involved with Venus’ ‘Move Your Skin: Re-write The Rules’ campaign.

The initiative is inspired by new research which revealed that over a third of women (38%) do not want to participate in sport because they worry about the way their skin looks. As part of the campaign, Wubben-Moy teamed up with Olympians Becky Downie and Emily Campbell to help with the unveiling of a powerful installation at London’s Olympic Park which endeavours to send a clear message that sport should be accessible to all and the legacy from sporting tournaments should be felt by all women and girls.

“Venus came to me two years ago and it was pretty plain and simple for me,” Wubben-Moy says. “They told me that a third of women don’t get to participate in sports because of them being self conscious of the way their skin looks.

“That statistic is what ignited this whole campaign. The campaign is all about encouraging women to be their true selves. To have installations like the one at the Olympic Park is pretty breathtaking and hopefully it starts some conversations.

“This is one of many, many barriers of access to sport. And if we can pull down this one, then we’re one step closer to getting more women into sport. As much as I can use my platform and how impactful sport can be, I’m going to be doing that.”

For more information about the campaign, visit Venus at GilletteVenus.co.uk and on Instagram.

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