The winner of the PFA Vertu Motors WSL Fans' Player of the Month - September
By 90min Staff
Arsenal star Beth Mead is the first PFA Vertu Motors WSL Fans' Player of the Month this season, scooping the September prize after a flying start to 2022/23.
Mead saw off a shortlist full of stiff competition from the likes of Rachel Daly, Kim Little, Fran Kirby, Maya Le Tissier and Kenza Dali. But the Lionesses favourite was the clear winner in the end, taking almost 40% of the entire vote, with Daly, Kirby and Le Tissier in a tight three-way battle for second.
Having come into this WSL season as a Euro 2022 champion, as well as individually the tournament’s best player and top goalscorer, Mead carried on her devastating form for Arsenal.
The Gunners blew Brighton away on the delayed opening night of the season and Mead had a direct involvement in three of her team’s four goals.
The 27-year-old laid on Arsenal’s second of the game for Stina Blackstenius, before netting the third and fourth herself to run up the score-line in an early boost to the team’s goal difference. Overall, she had eight shots on goal and created four chances, with Brighton unable to live with her.
Mead was similarly influential in the next game when Arsenal claimed local bragging rights against Tottenham in an historic north London derby played in front of 47,000 people at the Emirates Stadium, taking only five minutes to open the scoring.
Later in the game, she registered an assist for Arsenal’s third goal scored by Rafaelle.
Those consecutive 4-0 wins have made Arsenal the team to beat at this early stage of the WSL, especially with Chelsea and Manchester City faltering from last season’s top three, and Mead was a leading light with her performances in those games.
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