There is no denying the quality in the Arsenal women’s squad; even Liverpool women’s coach Matt Beard just this past week labelled the Arsenal women’s squad as “world class,” saying, “It’s like anything; when they have had people like Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema ruled out of their team, it does have an impact for sure. But they are a world-class team. We know there is a gap between the top four teams right now and the rest of the teams.
“From our perspective, and we’ve said this all along, we want to be as competitive as we can in this division.”
But even so, Arsenal haven’t been performing at their best. They have failed a number of times to win games they have dominated. Yes, Jonas Eidevall has a strong squad, but he has failed to get the best out of it, and this has mostly been due to the high rate of his key players getting injured. Both Mead and Vivienne Miedema, Arsenal’s fantastic duo, will be out for the majority of the season.
Mead ruptured her ACL during a 3-2 defeat to Manchester United back in November, an injury that has seen her absent from Arsenal long-term, but she may be fit for the World Cup. As for Miedema, she may be out until probably next season after the ACL victory against Lyon in the Champions League back in December, which shows how much she missed this summer’s world cup.
Anyone who’s watched the duo will tell you that even with one of them on the pitch, Arsenal are formidable and stink of goals. Anyway, other than the two, Leah Willaimson, their skipper, has also missed a number of games with a long-term injury along with the Brazilian captain Rafaelle.
Additionally, at the moment, Steph Catley is also out injured; these injuries just seem to not go away. These injuries have seen Arsenal drop points in key games against Manchester United last November and Manchester City last month; with a fully fit squad, we can argue Eidevall and his girls wouldn’t have dropped points easily.
Anyway, they seem to be back in form, and after wins over Chelsea and Liverpool this past few weeks, they can prove they have bounced back with a win over Reading this weekend to challenge for the top 3, if not the WSL title.
Come on you Gooner Women!
Michelle Maxwell
Follow Michelle on Just Gooner Women on Twitter for regular updates on the Arsenal Womens Team!
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