On Thursday evening, European Championship holders England were heading out against Sweden in their Euro 2025 quarter-final. 2-0 down at half-time Wiegman and England had stabilised in the second half, aided by Sweden’s willingness to sit on their two goal lead. However, by Wiegman’s own admission, in the second half, England lacked threat. ‘We weren’t really creating anything,’ she admitted.
Arsenal trio **Chloe Kelly** (78 minutes), **Beth Mead** (70 minutes) and **Michelle Agyemang** (70 minutes) entered the fray. Kelly bagged an assist and a pre-assist in a matter of minutes with 19-year-old Arsenal academy graduate Michelle Agyemang scoring the equaliser, her second England goal in just three short sub appearances. All three of Mead, Kelly and Agyemang transformed the threat that England were able to create.
Let’s start with Chloe Kelly, whose crosses created England’s two goals in 103 seconds to level the tie. First and foremost, England have a huge amount of attacking depth. The fact that they could bring on two Arsenal wingers (and an Arsenal striker, meaning all three of Arsenal’s senior strikers were on the pitch at one point) meant that England could throw quality into the fray against a strong Swedish side.
Kelly came on on the left hand side and that was significant because it meant England had a right-footed crosser on the left side. Starting left-winger Lauren Hemp had endured a frustrating evening to this point and this was largely because Sweden right-back Hanna Lundkvist kept shepherding her towards the corner flag. Sweden had a plan to keep her in spaces where she could not cause issues.
Shortly before Hemp was replaced by Kelly, Wiegman moved her to the right-hand side. Sweden are a strong aerial team and Wiegman wanted to switch the angle of delivery for crosses. Lauren James was initially moved to the left but she is a player who wants to drift inside and attack more central positions.
For a better delivery of cross, England needed someone who would specifically take up that position on the corner of the penalty area. That’s exactly the position Kelly takes up for England’s first goal. England’s left winger is no longer running to the by-line or trying to enter the penalty area.
Also crucial here is that Sweden switch their left-winger Fridolina Rolfo for Madelen Janogy when Kelly comes on. Janogy is now defending the back post. This is interesting for Arsenal, of course, because they now have four wingers all of whom are capable of playing on the right and the left. Check out this Chloe Kelly goal against Portugal in a tournament warm-up friendly where Mead crosses from the left. Not only is it very similar to the Lucy Bronze goal but it’s one we have potential to see in red and white next season.
England’s equaliser is forged pretty much entirely by England’s trio of Arsenal based substitutes. Again, we see Kelly change the angle of the delivery from the left onto her right foot. **Beth Mead** was introduced on the right side and that made sense too, previously Lauren James had played there as more of a wide 10.
James is a wide playmaker and Mead is a wide attacker who spent her early years as a striker. Once England committed to crosses from the left side, it made more sense to have Mead on the right because she is more likely to attack that back post than James, who moved into a more central role in a 352. That is what comes to pass with the equaliser, it’s not only Kelly changing the angle of the delivery but Mead provides another body attacking the box. She wins the knockdown from which Agyemang scores.
In short, Kelly gave England better positioning and shaping for crosses and Mead and Agyemang added box presence. When you watch that second Kelly cross come in, Russo isn’t quite in the thick of it in the six yard area but Mead and Agyemang are. England had extra bodies and a right footer delivering from the left enabled runners from deep and from the back post.
For Agyemang this marks the beginning of her rise. Much in the same way that it is unusual that Arsenal are trying to use winning the Champions League as a launchpad to win their domestic league, Agyemang’s international career has taken off probably in advance of her club career. Wiegman took Agyemang to Switzerland as a ‘Hail Mary’ option from the bench, she has come on as a sub for England three times now and on every occasion England were two goals down. On two occasions she has scored.
From a more insular, Arsenal perspective, I hope Agyemang does not get pigeonholed as a ‘get it launched’ Plan B option and her many other qualities are developed at club level. For Wiegman, at this stage, I can entirely understand why this option is so attractive, especially as Millie Bright had previously been deployed as an emergency striker under Wiegman and she is not available for this tournament.
Agyemang visibly strikes fear into defenders and enables England to be more direct. But look at her two England goals so far and they are not feats of raw physicality. Her control and volley against Belgium is a technically outstanding goal. Her equaliser against Sweden is an unbelievably cool finish (matched by her immediate instinct to retrieve the ball from the net) in a white hot situation.
Both of her England goals have been assisted by Arsenal players too, which is very exciting. Clearly, in the shootout Kelly’s penchant for penalties was illustrated once more (Russo scored and Mead missed, Agyemang was spared!)
_NB If you are reading this and you’re not an Arsenal fan, yes this article is deliberately and necessarily slanted towards analysing the impact of the Arsenal players because we are an Arsenal site. We know other non-Arsenal players were involved in the game in a positive way too, but it’s not our job to parse that on these pages 🙂_