Beth Mead admits England’s Euro qualifying group is “not the nicest” but hopes they can achieve “consistency” in their upcoming fixtures.
The Lionesses begin their European Championship title defence with qualifying games for next year’s tournament, starting with Sweden at Wembley on April 5 before facing the Republic of Ireland in Dublin four days later. Group A3 also includes France, who England will play in May.
April’s fixtures will be the first set of competitive games since their Nations League disappointment in December, where England’s hopes of securing a spot for Team GB in the Paris Olympics were ended and Mead believes they are in a “tough group” for the upcoming qualifiers.
Speaking about her reaction to the draw, the England forward told PA news agency: “We came in from training, saw the draw- it’s not the nicest group in the world!
“I think me and (Arsenal team-mate) Katie McCabe had a little joke about having to play against each other and winding each other up with her playing for Republic of Ireland.
“There’s no easy game in women’s football these days and I think we’ve ultimately got a very tough group and we’re going to have to be on top of our game to do very well in this group.
“I think the biggest thing for us as an England squad is consistency, we let ourselves down in some Nations League games and now we’ve just got to be consistent in the way we play, the way we’re building.
“Hopefully we can get two wins on the board this international break which puts us in really good stead for the rest of the games in the group.”
Mead is an ambassador for McDonald’s Fun Football and was celebrating the return of sessions, which will see 500,000 children across the UK provided with free football coaching this spring.
She is in action on Sunday as Arsenal hunt for silverware in the Continental Tyres League Cup Final against Chelsea at Molineux, but after the international break only five Women’s Super League games remain.
The title race is out of Arsenal’s control with the team sat six points away from joint-leaders Chelsea and Manchester City, and Mead admits the Champions League is the target now.
“I think looking forward to the rest of the season as a team we’ve got to, as cliche as it sounds, game by game, three points on the board,” Mead added.
“Our ultimate goal now is to get Champions League football and you never know what happens in football, but it’s out of our hands title-wise now and we’re very aware of that.
“Throughout the season itself I think consistency has been our biggest problem, we’ve been a little bit up and down with some games, lost some games that arguably we probably shouldn’t have.
“That’s something we need to rectify going to the end of the season, then we reset and start again fresh next year.”
Mead also has an eye on former club Sunderland, who are top of a tightly-contested Women’s Championship with three games to go.
Four other teams remain in the running to secure promotion to the WSL and Mead, who joined Arsenal from the Black Cats in 2017, highlighted the importance of keeping all the women’s leagues competitive.
“I’ve been to a few games in the Championship this season, I obviously follow Sunderland still and they’re top at the moment so hopefully they can keep themselves there,” she said.
“It’s amazing to see how much talent is coming through and the backing these clubs in the lower leagues are getting from the men’s side of things.
“That’s what we want to keep doing, we want to keep every league as competitive as possible and make England still one of the best leagues in the world.”
Beth Mead was celebrating the launch of this year’s McDonald’s Fun Football programme, available to all children aged 5-11 across the UK. Sign up now for your nearest FREE session at mcdonalds.co.uk/football.
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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