The next four months hold much promise for the England right-back, with the WSL kicking off and the World Cup to come in Canada in June

Alex Scott is talking about momentum. More specifically she is discussing the forces propelling women’s football into the spotlight like never before.

“Momentum’s such a big thing and this year’s massive for our game,” says the Arsenal and England right-back on the eve of the FA Women’s Super League season. If England’s domestic divisions have never been stronger, the national side are preparing for June’s World Cup in Canada on a considerable high while Arsenal have imported a leading Spanish coach in Pedro Martínez Losa.

“I’m so excited about this season, I feel it’s going to be the best yet,” Scott says. “Every WSL team has star players, exciting players, players people are going to want to watch. And another great thing is there’s such parity between the eight sides, everybody’s strong, everybody can beat each other, which was something we saw last season when the title could have gone to any of three teams on the final day.”

In the end Liverpool were the ones left celebrating in October, leaving Arsenal languishing in an unaccustomed fourth position following a campaign featuring an unusual degree of behind the scenes turmoil.

“It wasn’t good enough for Arsenal,” she concedes. “When you’re an Arsenal player you expect to be winning the title every year but we’ve got a new manager, Pedro, who knows where Arsenal need to be. Pedro worked in America before joining us at the end of last season and his ideas are so exciting, he’s also brought in some very good new players.”

They include the Spain striker, Natalia Pablos Sanchón, who arrives from Bristol Academy and Vicky Losada, a creative import from Barcelona. “When I first saw her [Losada] in training I thought ‘wow’, she’s incredibly skilful,” Scott says. “Fans are going to love watching her.”

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Even so the emergence of Manchester City and Chelsea means the league’s topography has changed almost beyond recognition with the once mighty Arsenal no longer dominant. Certainly Birmingham, Bristol Academy, Notts County and promoted Sunderland are not intending to merely make up the numbers in the top division of the two-tier WSL. “Notts County especially have made some really good signings,” says Scott.

The hike in overall quality and fitness reflects the game’s steady shift from strictly amateur status towards professionalism. Although most WSL players have part-time jobs, some are fully professional and on contracts worth in excess of £20,000 a year.

“The standard’s so much higher than a few years ago,” says Scott who, in 2009 crossed the Atlantic for a two-year professional stint with Boston Breakers. “People assume I went for the money but it wasn’t that, it was so I could improve in a way that wasn’t possible here. Now though you can develop your game by staying in England, you don’t have to go to America or Sweden any more.”

The league kicks off with Liverpool v Sunderland on Wednesday and the women’s game has begun to enjoy a little of the publicity it has long struggled to command. If London 2012 proved a watershed – “the Olympics were massive for women’s football in this country,” Scott says – the 45,000strong crowd who saw England lose to Germany at Wembley last year spoke volumes.

If a further milestone was reached last October when Steph Houghton, the Manchester City and England captain, adorned the front of Shoot magazine, June’s World Cup presents another opportunity to win hearts and minds. “It’s going to increase interest in the WSL,” says Scott, who has done her bit to accelerate this quiet revolution by founding a football academy for teenage girls in Kingston, south-west London, while writing frequent articles on the women’s game in her free time.

“People watching us for the first time are amazed at how technical, how fast, the women’s game is now,” says the 30-year-old who “prefers writing to coaching”. As part of the England squad who have just won the Cyprus Cup, Scott feels a national side managed by Mark Sampson – once a coach under Roberto Martínez at Swansea City – are gaining momentum at precisely the right time.

“Mark’s got a fantastic outlook on football and life,” she says. “He’s one of those people you really want to do well for. It’s the same with Pedro at Arsenal.” Her “best season yet” might just be about to unfold.

The FA Women’s Super League is exclusively live on BT Sport and kicks off with Liverpool v Sunderland on Wednesday (BT Sport 1 from 7.30pm)