Beth Mead details emotional chat with partner Vivianne Miedema after suffering same injury

England striker Beth Mead has recalled sitting in bed with her Arsenal team-mate and partner Vivianne Miedema, the latter wearing a knee brace as the former prepared for surgery, wondering how it all went so wrong.

Last season, the Gunners duo suffered respective anterior cruciate ligament injuries within a month of each other, tacking their names to an ever-swelling list of elite-level women's footballers to succumb to the injury.

The pair became the first Arsenal stars to form the club's eventual so-called 'ACL club', with England captain Leah Williamson joining them in April, along with defender Laura Wienroither in May.

Mead went down in the final minutes of a defeat to title rivals Manchester United in November. The 28-year-old described the initial sensation at the Emirates Stadium as little more than a knock, innocuous and even ordinary at the tail end of a fierce match.

"I knew I hadn't felt that in my knee before, it was like someone had hit it with a hammer," she told BBC's Football Focus. "It hurt for a minute but then it settled down, I was able to walk off.

"I could have easily come back on thinking it was OK. Luckily I had already been subbed otherwise I would have done irreparable damage. But I soon knew something wasn't right, that's why I got upset walking to the tunnel. The scan confirmed the worst."

Mead was at the peak of powers, having been named England's top scorer in the triumphant Euro 2022 tournament on home soil. Mead was crowned the player of the tournament and finished runner-up for the 2021-22 Ballon d'Or Feminin behind Spain and Barcelona star Alexia Putellas.

But she faced a race against time to recover, with just eight months to find fitness ahead of the Women's World Cup. The likelihood was