Emma talks a lot about friendships and relationships, and she met a future Gunners team-mate early in her journey: \u201cI went and played for St Johnstone when I was 12 or 13 and that was where I met Lisa Evans.\u201d <\/p>\n
Glasgow City were the dominant team in Scotland at the time and it wasn\u2019t long before they enlisted both players. Playing for Glasgow City convinced Mukandi that a professional career was possible. \u201cI went to Glasgow City at 15 or 16 and they were playing in the Champions League, and that made me think there were opportunities to go and play professionally. <\/p>\n
“Lisa went to Germany to play for Potsdam and I thought, \u2018Maybe I can go and do this?\u2019 I ended up going for trials in Denmark, Sweden and Germany.\u201d Eventually, Emma joined Essen in the Frauen Bundesliga but she found the experience difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Germany thinking I would be in a professional league, but we only trained in the evening, so the whole day I was sitting by myself. I shared a flat with a Portuguese girl who didn\u2019t speak English. I was only 19 and very isolated. <\/p>\n “Then Arsenal came in and I just thought that would be much better for me.\u201d<\/p>\n At this point, the WSL season ran from April until October. There was a break for Euro 2013 during the summer, after which Mukandi joined Arsenal. Scottish coach Shelley Kerr had just taken over as manager and Mukandi arrived alongside international team-mates Caroline Weir and Christie Murray. <\/p>\n \u201cI knew Shelley because she coached me in the Scotland under-19s,\u201d Mukandi remembers. \u201cI didn\u2019t know Caroline was signing until I came down. We ended up sharing a flat in London Colney.\u201d However, it proved to be a transitional time for Arsenal and new WSL salary cap rules saw a number of players leave for other WSL clubs.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember when I signed, Kimmie was there, Ellen White and Steph Houghton were there. Then they all left at the end of that season. When I signed I saw all these big names but then lots of players left. <\/p>\n A lot of younger players came in and we won the FA Cup in 2014, but it was strange because I signed thinking we would be really successful and it turned out to be a massive transitional phase. But I didn\u2019t really think about it too much. I was young and didn\u2019t really get involved in the politics of football, and it was still really enjoyable for me. I was having fun!\u201d <\/p>\n Emma struck up friendships with the likes of Katie McCabe, Emma Byrne, Fara Williams and Vivianne Miedema that endure today. \u201cWhen I think about my career, my time at Arsenal was when I was happiest. The majority of girls who have played for Arsenal would say the same. <\/p>\n “I speak to players who are still there and they still have that family feeling and togetherness. Nearly everyone lives in St Albans and everyone looks after each other. When I look back I remember the times off the pitch as much as on the pitch. Obviously there were big games and trophies, but I think about the relationships and the memories we created and friendships I have for life. <\/p>\n \u201cNow women\u2019s football is so, so big, I do wonder whether players still have that to the same extent. I think the girls who have been there for a long time will, but I wonder how much more the game has become a job.\u201d <\/p>\n The 2016 FA Cup final victory over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium was one of the most memorable occasions Emma was involved in, the last time (for now!) that the Gunners won the competition. \u201cI remember being really excited. Even though I\u2019m Scottish and I\u2019m not as fussed about Wembley because it\u2019s not my national stadium, I felt excited because I know what a big day it is for women\u2019s sport. <\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up it was the only women\u2019s game you saw on the telly. We were underdogs and we put in a great performance. But we had some brilliant players in that team. It was a joyous occasion and Dan Carer still dines out on the goal she scored!” <\/p>\n In 2018\/19, Mukandi was a member of the WSL title-winning team, but the season was bittersweet for the Scot. She took some time away during the campaign due to mental health issues: \u201cI wasn\u2019t really playing much and I was being phased out of the team. <\/p>\n “I think being away from home didn\u2019t help as well. It was an accumulation of different stuff. It was one of the hardest but proudest things I have ever done to ask to step away. It\u2019s not easy to ask for help.\u201d <\/p>\n Mukandi remembers the day when she realised it was all too much. \u201cThere was a training session and I snapped and burst into tears over someone tackling me. I love a tackle so it wouldn\u2019t normally upset me! I told the club I wasn\u2019t right and I needed help. The club had a psychologist on hand and I ended up seeing them for about 18 months. <\/p>\n “The club gave me space and time and reintegrated me when I was ready. I spoke to the psychologist a couple of times a week.\u201d<\/p>\n Happily, the season ended on a high for Mukandi when she came on and scored the winning goal in the 88th minute of the final game of the season at home to Manchester City, with the league title already sealed the game before. Her team-mates were so happy for her that the usually unflappable Kim Little swore on live television in her post-match interview as she described her compatriot\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n “It was one of the hardest but proudest things I have ever done to ask to step away. It’s not easy to ask for help.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think I would get on so I thought I was just going to enjoy the day anyway. When I scored, well, I think you can see my reaction. It was overwhelming and emotional. <\/p>\n “I knew how hard I had to work just to be able to play football, just on a fitness basis. The reaction of my teammates shows that as well \u2013 they knew the work I had put in and that I deserved to have that moment.\u201d <\/p>\n Mukandi left Arsenal for Reading in 2020. It was there that she gave birth to her daughter Innes in October 2021. (Emma and her husband Ivan have since been blessed with another baby daughter who, at time of writing, is four weeks old and snoozing in the background during the interview). Mukandi remembers having to feel her way through pregnancy and training herself. <\/p>\n \u201cThere were no maternity policies in contracts from the FA or PFA at that time. I got paid when I was pregnant and postpartum because there was nothing to say I shouldn\u2019t get paid. But when I was pregnant I didn\u2019t have much support about what I should be doing training-wise. I took it day by day. <\/p>\n \u201cPost-partem I had to get my own pelvic floor physio and do the work off my own back; most clubs didn\u2019t have that. At London City Lionesses, they had a physio called Emma Brockwell who does a lot of pelvic health work. I had a forceps delivery, which changes your recovery as well.\u201d <\/p>\n While Mukandi thinks maternity policies and support for pregnant players is improving, there is still some room for development: \u201cI still think some clubs are a little scared with policies around pregnancy. There is a PFA policy for clubs which is a basic guideline, but it needs to be built on by the clubs. <\/p>\n “A player at Charlton, for example, should be getting the same support as someone at Chelsea. There are so many reasons why players will have a baby and players need to be confident that if they are going to make this choice then the support will be there.\u201d <\/p>\n Mukandi enjoyed a distinguished national career with Scotland too, winning 74 caps. However, she missed out on Euro 2017 and the 2019 World Cup. \u201cThe World Cup was harder to take,\u201d she says, \u201cthat was when I was struggling with my mental health and I worked to try to make sure I was physically fit enough to go. It was disappointing because I had worked with Shelley (who was Scotland manager at the time) for years and she knew what I could bring. <\/p>\n \u201c2017 was different. I tore my hamstring so it was easier to take because I was injured. But when I look back at my national career it\u2019s not just the games I played \u2013 I made great memories and relationships. I travelled the world and went to places I never would have been to otherwise.\u201d Mukandi announced her retirement from playing in August 2025.<\/p>\n Last May, she watched on as her former club won the UEFA Women’s Champions League in Lisbon. \u201cI was so emotional watching the final because I still know some of the girls. Especially Kim \u2013 she is just getting the recognition she deserved because she won the Champions League. She should have been winning Ballon D\u2019Ors long before that. <\/p>\n “I created great relationships with some of those players and I always want the best for them.” <\/p>\n Mukandi left the club during the Covid-19 lockdown and missed much of the current boom in attendances at Arsenal, but she has no regrets. <\/p>\n \u201cIt would be great to still be there and be part of the boom of women\u2019s football, but I will never look back with any bitterness. Your time is your time and it\u2019s just great to see what the girls have now. <\/p>\n \u201cI know how hard they have all worked and the sacrifices they made. I love watching the girls now and the Emirates being full. I go to games still and I feel like a proper fan \u2013 I get the whole matchday experience and go for a pint and it\u2019s great to experience that from a women\u2019s football perspective. Growing up, I never thought that would be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During her seven years at Arsenal, Emma Mitchell \u2013 now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialsport.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n