Vivianne Miedema: Five things to know about the prolific Arsenal forward

Vivianne Miedema has played 110 games for Arsenal Women's Football Club - and last night (9 September) she scored her 100th goal for the FA Women's Super League side, courtesy of a Champions League hat-trick.

The Gunners beat Slavia Praha away 4-0, to seal a 7-0 victory on aggregate.

Dutch forward Miedema joined Arsenal in 2017, and has been formidable ever since.

Her club milestone comes off the back of a rampant campaign with the Netherlands at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where she scored 10 goals - a record tally for a single Games.

She's a phenomenal footballer, but what else do you know about the scintillating striker?

1: Miedema's painful first memory in football

For Miedema, one particular footballing memory stands out: having her two of her teeth kicked out by a goalkeeper!

"People might think, ‘You’re crazy to want to play again after losing two teeth’ but playing football is all I ever wanted to do," she said.

And luckily for fans of women's football, and Arsenal, the Dutch sensation never considered anything other than football.

"I didn’t really do anything else back then – to be honest, I couldn’t really do anything else back then – so it was quite easy for me to go back."

2: Inspired by Robin van Persie

It is plausible that Arsenal fans might still have a lingering sense of bitterness towards Robin van Persie, after the Dutchman left them for Manchester United, and went on to win the Premier League.

But they still owe him thanks for inspiring one of the greatest goal-scorers the club has ever seen in Meidema, who tried to model her style off his.

"When I was younger, I would watch a lot of men’s football and Robin van Persie was the big example for me, mostly because he was around at the time that I started to watch football on TV," she told Arsenal.

"We didn’t get too many English games in Holland, but I was smart enough to find it online and would watch him play for Arsenal and then Manchester United as well.

"He was a great example for me and was probably the most influential striker for me.

"Then there were the other Dutch players, like Ruud van Nistelrooy and Dirk Kuyt, who were big players as well so I would watch videos of them."

3: Records, records, records!

Over her time at Arsenal, Miedema has toppled records with ease.

She is the Women's Super League's all-time top goal scorer with 61, and was also the first in the league to hit the 50 mark.

But that's not all, as the 25 year old has quite a few 'firsts' in the league too.

From most goals in a WSL season (22), and most WSL hat-tricks (5), to most goals and assists and a single match (6, 4) to best WSL goals to games ratio (0.89), she has dominated ever since she arrived from Bayern Munich.

And after hitting the 100 mark for the Gunners, there's no doubt more records will be on the horizon.

4: The creative midfielder that almost was...

Despite being a natural goal scorer, Miedema actually started out as a creative midfielder occupying the No.10 role.

She was inspired by her footballing father who played the same position, but as both her grandfather and brother were strikers, it was only a matter of time before the young prodigy followed suit.

But her midfield years gave her a balanced game, and she can often be found dropping deeper and creating for her teammates.

But it was to be in the No.9 role that she really came into her own.

After appearing there once for the Netherlands in an injury crisis, she never moved back.

5: Miedema reigns supreme as the country's highest goal scorer

Miedema is a household name in women's football in the Netherlands.

Her goal tally has been building ever since she shifted into the No.9 role for the Netherlands - and from Euros success to second in the 2019 World Cup, she has been at the heart of it all.

In 2019, she became her nation's all-time top goal scorer, overtaking footballing hero Van Persie, with her current count sitting at 83. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the prolific forward added a whopping 10 goals to her account.

And the scariest thing?

At 25 years old, she could well double that tally, or even more!