Great Jess-pectations (Jess Carter interview)

Five pages with the Chelsea and England defender, conducted the day after the FA Cup semi-final win at Arsenal and eight weeks before a European Championship she would go on to be part of. Jess Carter is unusually honest about a career that stalled: she thought she was ready two years earlier and was not, was not professional or consistent enough, and had to stop looking at what others were failing to do and look at herself instead. Emma Hayes calls the process a slog and praises her coachability and resilience. There is craft too, on the messages inside a back three, the out-balls under pressure and why she prefers the middle of the three, and comedy in the story of hauling her PFA Young Player trophy home from London by train.