June Mead was diagnosed with cancer in 2021. Against the backdrop of her mother’s illness, Beth won numerous team and individual honours – including best player and top scorer at Euro 2022. Shortly before June died, Beth was recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

The 29-year-old said: “I came home after my ACL surgery and spent a precious month with my mum but, ultimately, I had an injury that I could come back from. My mum didn’t. It changed how I looked at life.”

NHS England aims to eradicate cervical cancer in the next 15 years with the use of cervical screening and the HPV vaccine.

The campaign called ‘defend your tomorrow’ will be marked at Sunday’s north London derby. The Women’s Super League game is being shown live on the BBC, and will aim to raise awareness of the disease being potentially preventable.

More than 50,000 tickets have been sold for the visit of Tottenham to Emirates Stadium. Arsenal are third in the Women’s Super League, 10 points behind leaders Chelsea with nine games remaining, while Spurs are sixth, a further 10 points adrift.

Mead said there was a growing rivalry between the two sides.

“The history isn’t quite there, but the feistiness, the competitiveness is starting to build,” Mead said.

“Obviously the men’s games have had that history for a long time, and now we’re trying to build our own history.”

Although refusing to give up on winning the WSL title, Mead said the priority this season is getting into the Champions League places.

“Right now, that is our ultimate goal,” she added.