Bethany England reflects on first month at Tottenham & scoring against Chelsea

Bethany England has admitted that she is seeing different aspects of her game improve following her move from Chelsea to Tottenham, having netted three goals in her first four appearances for her new club.

The striker called time on her six years with the Blues to sign for Spurs in January, and with a move from the WSL champions to a side without a league win since October has come with an adjustment in playing style for England.

She was on the scoresheet against her former club on Sunday as a spirited Spurs slipped to a 3-2 defeat.

"I would definitely say I'm having to use different aspects that I didn't necessarily have to use as much before as much at Chelsea, I think it's a lot more running sometimes," England said.

"But I think it's having to bring traits out that I'm having to work on more and make sure I'm bringing them up to the right standard. It's only good for me to be able to improve every part of my game. I'm happy to be playing, I'm happy to be getting on the scoresheet and helping this team push as much as we can.

"I feel happy and I'm feeling confident, and I'm just happy to be on the pitch and playing - even better to be scoring. As a forward you always want goals so I'm glad I'm able to bring this to this team as that was one of the reasons they brought me in and I'm glad the club put so much trust in me, and I hope I'm repaying them on the field."

In a strange twist of fate, two of England's first four appearances for Spurs have come against former employees Chelsea - the club with whom she won four league titles and the 2019/20 PFA Player of the Year with.

"It's very strange. It's almost like I'm in training but I'm not," the striker reflected. "At the end of the day I'm there to do my job, they are as well and when you stop over the line it's business as usual and afterwards you can catch up. It's been strange but it's been lovely to see everyone.

"It's never going to be easy scoring against the club that you spent a long time at. I'm proud of our team and the way that we fought."

England's goal to level the scores against Chelsea came after combining with fellow former Blue Drew Spence. The midfielder did well to work a yard for herself to flash the ball across the face of goal, and England demonstrated her usual goal scoring instincts to arrive at the right place at the right time and stroke home.

"I nearly clapped - I've seen it thousands of times in training," Emma Hayes said of the Spurs goal. "I'm always proud of former players. Beth's brought a lot to that team, but for me Drew's been unbelievable in that side, their player of the season.

"Sorry Ree [Skinner], I hope you don't mind me saying this, their two best players are [former] Chelsea players. I'm happy to see them thriving."

England smiles knowingly when the topic of international football is brought up. The 28-year-old was part of the Lionesses' Euro 2022 winning squad, but has not been selected by Sarina Wiegman since the September camp after seeing limited game time at Chelsea during the first half of the season. With the World Cup five months away, she could be hitting form at the perfect time.

"I just want to make sure week in, week out I'm performing, I'm doing the right things," England added. "Yeah I've got on the scoresheet but I'm not just looking at that I'm looking at every other aspect of the game: am I holding the ball up, am I linking well?

"There's so much more than just scoring goals for me and I have to prove that to Sarina and the England team that if I do get picked I'm worth being there so it's just continuing to build on my confidence and playing well and everything that follows after that is just a bonus."