Sunday 18th October 2020 saw Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema become the Women’s Super League’s all-time top goal scorer.
A big game called for a big performance and Arsenal certainly rose to the occasion, reigning triumphant over North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Katie McCabe converted a free-kick, Caitlin Foord bagged herself a brace and Miedema managed to net a hat-trick in the gunners 6-1 victory.
Ahead of the match, Dutch international, Miedema, sat level pegging with England and Lyon striker, Nikita Parris as the league’s top goal scorer. Before her move to France, Parris led the goalscoring table with 49 goals in 110 games.
In comparison, Miedema now has 52 goals in 50 games. Not only this, but she is also the first player to score two first-half hat-tricks in WSL history and boasts the highest number of goals for her country, for both the men’s and women’s sides.
With an array of scoring and creating abilities, Miedema is no one-trick pony. She is able to feed balls to others, find space to create opportunities, and is of course, clinical with her finish. Miedema is paramount to Arsenal’s rhythm, and it is when they find this groove, that she can seem somewhat unstoppable.
In what could aptly be described as an ‘Arsenal ambush’ back in December 2019, Miedema was involved in a mammoth 10 goals against Bristol City. Two hat-tricks and four assists meant that Miedema missed out on only one in their 11-1 win.
Looking forward, it is hard to imagine that Miedema will cease to reach even greater milestones. Following Miedema’s record break, Arsenal boss, Joe Montemurro commented on her drive and ambition for future success.
“Her ability to be better is there. She can get better. She’s a person who wants to get better, she wants to challenge herself, she wants to be even better, because there’s still a lot of learning and development to go”, he said.
One would certainly echo this and hope that Montemurro is right in his forecasts.
At 24, Vivianne Miedema still has plenty left to give.
Photo: @ArsenalWFC
