A review of Arsenal Women’s lows in the 2022-23 season so far by Michelle
We’ve celebrated the highs of Arsenal Women’s season so far and they have been really rather incredible, as our Gunners end 2022 sitting 2nd in the WSL and have qualified top of their group for the Champions League quarter-finals.
But with highs must come lows and Arsenal Women really have had more than their fair share this season, that’s for sure, mostly with a seemingly ever-increasing list of significant injuries.
The woes started with injuries to both Leah Williamson, captain of the Lionesses, and Rafaelle Souza, captain of the Brazil Women’s team, when both sustained foot injuries within a few days of each other in early October, only 2 weeks into the start of the 2022-23 season – both players have only recently returned to active duty for Arsenal.
Captain Kim Little then suffered a knee injury towards the end of October when Arsenal beat West Ham 3-1 at Meadow Park. Summer signing Lina Hurtig then picked up an injury in early November when Arsenal beat Leicester 4-0. Arsenal then granted Vivianne Miedema a leave of absence in early November to rest & recuperate. both Little and Hurtig returned to active duty just before the winter break.
So by early November our Gunners had 6 players out of action, including Teyah Goldie who is still recovering from a longterm ACL injury. Arsenal have a 21-strong senior squad and only 6 weeks into the 2022-23 season they were down to a choice of 15 players fit for selection.
Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse injury-wise Beth Mead went down in the final minutes of injury time as Arsenal took on Manchester United at Emirates Stadium, in front of a 40,000 strong crowd, eventually losing 2-3 in their first WSL defeat of the season, breaking their run of 14 consecutive wins across last season and this. It was confirmed that Beth Mead had sustained a significant ACL injury which will keep her out of action for the rest of the season.
Then in mid-December, as Arsenal faced Lyon at the Emirates in their Champions League campaign Vivianne Miedema went down in first half injury time. Miedema was also confirmed as having suffered a serious ACL injury which, like her partner and teammate Beth, will keep her out for the rest of the season.
This has got to be our Gunners low of the season so far, when they suffered defeat to Manchester United. Highlights below.
Video Highlights: Arsenal 2-3 Man Utd Women – shocking Arsenal defeat in 91st minute
With Arsenal being plagued with injuries pretty much from the start of the season they have done remarkably well indeed, going into the winter break at the top of their Champions League group for the quarter-finals and neck and neck in their WSL title race.
May 2023 be kinder to our Gunners and may we welcome new players in the shape of Victoria Pelova and Debinha..
Michelle Maxwell
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Lots of injuries unfortunately. Hoping our lady Gunners have a great 2023 and we’ll done to our Beth Mead for helping England win Euro 2022 and winning Sports Personality of the Year