Lotte Wubben-Moy doesn’t mince words. “I’d be lying if I said there weren’t doubts,” the Arsenal and England defender admits. For years, she’s navigated a stop-start journey, earning just 16 caps since her 2021 debut despite near-constant squad inclusion. Often sidelined at club level, she’s repeatedly been recalled due to injuries elsewhere—a testament to her unshakeable value in the dressing room.
Now, at 27, the childhood Gunners fan is no longer waiting in the wings. With Leah Williamson still recovering and Steph Catley only just back from the Asia Cup, Wubben-Moy has grabbed her moment. “I feel like this is me,” she says. “I’ve kind of just been waiting for the moment to be able to show it.”
That moment has arrived. As England prepares for World Cup qualifiers against Spain and Iceland, Wubben-Moy is ready to translate her club form onto the international stage. “Regardless of the game, regardless of the moment, I always feel prepared,” she states. “It’s something that grounds me and gives me the best foundation to then go and express myself on the pitch.”
Her readiness isn’t accidental. It’s a product of meticulous, intentional work—both on and off the pitch. Wubben-Moy has zeroed in on Zone 2 training: endurance- and metabolism-boosting workouts at low to moderate intensity. “I take a lot of pride in it,” she notes, crediting conversations with her partner, British cyclist Tao Geoghegan Hart, for broadening her athletic horizons.
“The cross-pollination of different sports, of different modalities and different curiosities is, I think, underestimated and actually underrated in football in general,” Wubben-Moy argues. “We’re in this little box, but actually there’s so many more approaches that we can take.”
This cross-sport curiosity has become a performance catalyst. “My partner’s in a place in his career where he has achieved and he has absorbed from some of the best of the best,” she explains. “That’s something he’s now sharing with me, and it’s something that I’m sharing with my teammates.”
The results are tangible. “I’m in a better place for it; stronger, fitter, with more belief and, ultimately, just playing with a smile on my face—we can forget that at this level.”
But Wubben-Moy’s edge extends beyond physical prep. Her ‘Lots to Explore’ programme—a community project written into her Arsenal contract—fuels her in ways stats can’t capture. “It gives me so much energy,” she says. “You wouldn’t see it from the outside as a performance enhancer, but it is for me.”
She views performance through a multidimensional lens. “When I look at the fine margins, it’s not something I necessarily see in a one-dimensional sense, that is just formula-driven, statistics-driven, on the pitch,” Wubben-Moy reflects. “I look at all of those things but I’m also doing more beyond it that gives me energy.”
This philosophy stems from a career punctuated by setbacks. “Coming from a place of injuries, setbacks, I’ve been able to look at the details,” the centre-back says. “As a football player you constantly sort of teeter on the line of confidence, of belief, and I think, ultimately, when you live life introspectively, live life constantly wanting to push yourself, I think you will only ever get good results.”
Wubben-Moy’s introspective drive isn’t limited to the pitch. She spearheaded a letter to Conservative leadership candidates after England’s 2022 Euros win, demanding equal access to sports for girls in schools. That same intentionality now defines her approach to football.
“It is intentional living and that’s something I would recommend to any young player these days because everyone’s looking for that edge, everyone’s looking to get ahead but actually maybe you’re not looking in the right places,” she advises. “When you look at life with curiosity and intention, there are so many more possibilities to grow from to become a better player.”
For Wubben-Moy, that growth has been a slow brew. “I was just waiting for the right opportunity, the perfect storm—we’re all trying to create that perfect storm in many ways,” she says. Now, with Arsenal relying on her and England calling, the storm has arrived. And she’s ready to anchor it all.
