Firstly, Lotte, we’re tying THIS interview in with our No More Red matchday theme, and we know that being part of Arsenal in the Community has always been important to you. why is that?

First and foremost, what Arsenal means to me is so tied to the community itself. They are so interchangeable that when you speak of one, you speak about the other. I don’t see it as part of my job because that would mean everyone has to do it, and I believe community work should be something you want to do and give your energy to.

I definitely see it as part of my responsibility as an Arsenal player and as a Londoner who grew up in the community. I’m speaking from a privileged position as a white woman but there is so much that I’ve seen and so many opportunities to give back and potentially achieve change in small incremental blocks. People look at athletes as role models on the pitch, but I think we can take that a step further. That’s why I speak of it as a responsibility because I see it as such an impactful role that we can play within the community.

Did you have a safe space growing up in east London? How important is it that kids can feel safe in London?

Football intersects the community in a way that brings together so many people, and we can speak about it as a common ground: a place where people from all walks of life can come together and feel as if they have value and feel as if they can communicate in this ever-changing world.

When you step onto a concrete pitch like I did as a youngster in the cage, it tears down so many barriers for so many kids. That’s the purity of football to Londoners but it’s also the purity of sport full stop.

When we speak about safe spaces, it’s not just physical – it’s a feeling of belonging. It makes me incredibly proud to see the safe spaces continually created within women’s football by so many people. No More Red’s focus on how violent crime affects the community is vital and can help educate a lot of people. It can be incredibly difficult to put the pain of youth violence into words but this campaign and the shirts themselves represent powerful stories from our community that hopefully will aid understanding.

Who were your role models growing up? How important is it to have people to look up to?

My primary school teaching assistant Paul Cox was someone who gave up his time to help create a girls’ football team. He recognised there were girls who wanted to play and they didn’t have an opportunity to. That isn’t world-altering in itself but it changed my life. It’s one of the catalysts that made me who I am today. The people who inspire me the most are those who start with something small and then end up having a huge impact.

Living in London, you see so much. There’s deprivation that’s incredibly hard to witness but you also see the other side of that, with many selfless people giving their time and effort to help others. These volunteers understand the huge impact that something small can have.

Safety isn’t something that you can take for granted. A friend of mine was stabbed when we were in sixth form, which was incredibly frightening, but the impact on him went beyond that one incident. Immediately at school, he was put into a box where everyone assumed that he was involved in knife crime just because he had been a victim of it.

Providing opportunities for young people is so important when trying to combat such a systemic issue as youth violence. It can’t be completely blamed on individuals, but there are ways we can make individual lives better. There’s a lot that needs to be done and that doesn’t just fall at the door of Arsenal, but whatever positive impact we can make, we’ll try. Just because you’re not directly involved, it doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference. 

How important is it to be respectful of your local area and community?

I think respecting your community should be a bread-and-butter foundation that we can depend upon. From that, you can build and be who you want to be, but if you don’t have that fundamental safety, it’s so hard.

That pillar of respect and safety within a community is so fundamental to the growth young people can have in the city. It’s not just about reducing youth violence; it’s also important to focus on how young people can flourish – how we can improve their opportunities and how we can enable them to be themselves. The No More Red campaign celebrates individuals within the community who are boldly themselves to help others.

What do you think is the most important ingredient of a team?

Our unity and togetherness. I don’t want to harp on too much about the past, but having been through so many moments that required versatility and resilience, I think it takes a special group of people to push beyond the sort of challenges we’ve faced. It takes a group that is fully together. In sport and in life, you’re not always so lucky but this team is genuinely a group of women who want to be together, who care and empower one another. You look at the team and that’s your family.

We come from so many different places and so many different walks of life but when you step out onto the training pitch, we’re one. When you’re just surrounded by women who you enjoy being around, that’s so powerful. I think over these past 12 months our ability to perform for one another, for the club and the supporters has been the epitome of togetherness.

Who are you closest to in the team?

Viv’s a part of my family now. My mum and dad treat her like another child of theirs and my sister and my partner both love Viv, which is really special. Likewise, with Less, she’s a sister to me. There aren’t many moments in life where you can look at work and look at your private life and see how connected they are. That seems to be the case in women’s football and particularly at Arsenal, when we have moments that bring us so closely together and go beyond the professional world. We fight so hard on the football pitch, it’s hard not to have such intimate relationships with other people.

We put so much emotion into our performances that when you get to share that experience with others, it creates such a tight bond. These are friendships that we’ll have for years and years, way after we all stop playing, and that goes to show how strong we are as a collective.

How important is diversity in a team?

It’s so beautiful. The way all of our stories have melted together is beautiful because you have to be curious and interested in other people – in what they say and where they come from. Being surrounded by different people changes your mentality and makes you so open-minded, I think.

As a club, we definitely still have a way to go, but we share that understanding that we are made better by the people we’re with and by our differences. I’d hate to be stuck in a room with people exactly like myself – it would be so boring! I want to speak to people who are different, who have views different to my own, who push themselves in other ways than I do. That’s the beauty of being in a team sport.

Could you imagine playing an individual sport, rather than a team sport?

I think I’d hate to play an individual sport. Growing up, I ran on the track and know how lonely that is. I’m generally happy in my own company and I’m not someone who struggles with FOMO.

But to be with other people and fighting with them on the pitch is so special, compared to just running for myself. That company allows you to reach a completely different gear that you probably never even knew you had.

We have got a lot of young players in the squad – what benefits does that bring?

It’s so exciting to see future generations coming through because they’re so different. They’ve been able to grow up in a world with an abundance of value for women’s football. Players like Ke and Kyra are so talented and, when you think of the next wave of players, that talent is only going to keep growing.

Let’s just say I’m going to be retiring early because if this lot coming through keep getting better and better, there’s going to be a complete reset of what we currently see as the limits of women’s football. I don’t think we know the half of it right now and it’s so exciting.

I have to pinch myself every time I see young girls playing football on Hackney Marshes. When I walk by on a Sunday these days it’s a 50-50 split, which is unbelievable. As a sport, we’re 50 years behind the men’s game – just think for a moment about how far we’re going to go. I look around at our team and we’re so rich in talent and excitement and possibility. It’s so cool to be around.

You joined the club after our women’s Invincibles team of 2006/07. What was the key ingredient in that side, in your opinion, for it to dominate the game in that way?

I was lucky to play with Kelly Smith as a 16-year-old. Kelly, Alex Scott, Rachel Yankey, Casey Stoney – these players are the gold standard so to have gone from watching them as a fan to playing with them to now being coached by Kelly – it gives you so much inspiration.

You look at their incredible legacy and you recognise the need to celebrate them, because without those trailblazers we wouldn’t be here. It also makes you wonder about what you would like to leave behind. As professional footballers, we have the present and the future within our hands and we can mould them. We can only do so because of individuals like Kelly, Alex and Yanks and those who came before them.

Now we have Kelly around as a coach, you can’t put that into words. It also means you can feel the weight on your shoulders because you want to do the club and the game justice. As a team we understand our responsibility going forward to leave this game in a better place. But it’s also our responsibility to achieve, and that’s ultimately what we’re here for. The trophy cabinet from the past isn’t the trophy cabinet we have right now, so that’s what we’re aspiring to emulate.

That key ingredient is probably something that Invincibles team all felt within them. The confidence, the connection, the inspiration – they must have felt untouchable. When you go on a run of winning games, that momentum just keeps you rolling on, and you have to grab tight to that feeling and keep it close.

A winning streak is one thing but to go 108 games in a row unbeaten is actually mad. It’s hard to believe that anyone will be able to match what they managed to achieve. That being said, we’re seeing progress across the leagues at the moment. The ceiling of women’s football is rising, but so is the floor. Everyone is competing on a higher level than before and that can only be good for the game.

What’s the best example of togetherness with the supporters you can remember?

I think those early games at the Emirates. Maybe even the Aston Villa game this season where we came from behind and ended up with the three points. It’s easy to support a team when you’re winning but when things aren’t going well and the team just needs that little extra push, the fans give it to us every single time. Even when we don’t know we need it, they give it to us.

That feeling on the pitch is just amazing. I hope it makes the fans feel amazing too because it honestly makes us feel like the sky’s the limit. It’s something that we can’t ever take for granted. We need to earn that support every single game by putting up performances that evoke those reactions from the fans – that excitement and thrill. I hope it’s something that keeps growing because aside from the impact it has on us, it also brings new fans in.

We have our awesome core supporters group that is ride or die and just keeps building. But it’s also reaching far beyond that to groups of people who maybe never would have come to a football game even a year ago. They feel that energy and that empowerment and it’s something they want to come back to. It’s an intangible energy that becomes tangible because it allows us to win.