A ‘Look Forward’ Defender (Jennifer Beattie Interview)

Ten years after leaving Celtic for Arsenal, Jennifer Beattie has settled into a centre-back partnership with Steph Houghton that has anchored Manchester City’s unbeaten domestic season. She says City’s willingness to build from the back was what drew her, and that Nick Cushing has coached that process superbly. Asked whether she is at her peak she deflects: you never feel that, and the job is never to be content. Three previous finals with Arsenal, lost in 2010 and won in 2011 and 2013, are behind her and she does not think about them, calling herself a look-forward person. Wembley will be a debut, having missed the 2017 final injured, though she saw Adele there that summer. Scotland’s first World Cup follows.