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Lotte Wubben-Moy pauses, then says: “I’d be lying if I said there weren’t doubts.” The Arsenal and England defender has just been asked whether, during her stop-start journey, she had questioned herself or her chances of getting to show what she can do.

Wubben-Moy has had to bide her time with club and country. Having made her debut for England in February 2021, she has picked up only 16 caps despite being almost ever-present in the squad. Even when left out, her lack of game time at Arsenal an obvious issue, she has often found herself called back in because of injuries to others and, regardless of minutes played, her value to the squad and environment is often talked about.

The 27-year-old steps up every time she is asked and at Arsenal, with Leah Williamson yet to return from injury and Steph Catley only recently back from the Asia Cup, the childhood Gunners fan has grasped the chance to show she is much more than a stand-in. Now she is preparing for World Cup qualifiers against Spain on Tuesday and Iceland the following Saturday.

“I feel good,” she says. “I feel like this is me, and I’ve kind of just been waiting for the moment to be able to show it. Regardless of the game, regardless of the moment, I always feel prepared. I wouldn’t say it’s my biggest strength, but I would say it’s something that grounds me and that gives me the best foundation to then go and express myself on the pitch and to empower and to lead in the way that I do. I feel like a puzzle piece in this very big puzzle that transfers from club football to international football.”

The process of staying ever-ready is not easy, but Wubben-Moy, who spearheaded the letter to the two Conservative party leadership candidates after the 2022 Euros win demanding equal access to sports for girls in schools, is philosophical about how you do it.

“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,” the centre-back says. “For me personally, coming from a place of injuries, setbacks, I’ve been able to look at the details. In particular the work that I do off the pitch personally, but also physically.”

A focus has been on Zone 2 work – endurance- and metabolism-boosting workouts at a low to moderate intensity – which she takes “a lot of pride in”.

That has been aided by conversations with her partner, the British cyclist Tao Geoghegan Hart, and a keen interest in what can be learned from athletes across different sports and disciplines.

“The cross-pollination of different sports, of different modalities and different curiosities is, I think, underestimated and actually underrated in football in general. We’re in this little box, but actually there’s so many more approaches that we can take and it really intrigues me. It comes from a place of wanting to be better and, where I am in my career, I’m doing everything possible to be better – a better person but also a better player.

“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, and that’s something he’s now sharing with me, and it’s something that I’m sharing with my teammates. There’s so much power within being able to share and grow collectively.

“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.”

Those details aren’t the only ones that matter. “There’s a lot of my life that is devoted to football, it becomes a lifestyle, and it is a lifestyle, but then there are also parts that contribute to football, which aren’t necessarily directly related to it,” Wubben-Moy says. “My Lots to Explore programme – my community project I run at Arsenal [a commitment she had written into her contract] – gives me so much energy. You wouldn’t see it from the outside as a performance enhancer, but it is for me.

“So, 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. I look at all of those things but I’m also doing more beyond it that gives me energy. 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. When you look at life with curiosity and intention, there are so many more possibilities to grow from to become a better player.”

On her own patience and performances now she is getting more minutes, Wubben-Moy says she was “waiting to brew”. “I was just waiting for the right opportunity, the perfect storm – we’re all trying to create that perfect storm in many ways.”