Arsenal Women’s Dutch forward, Vivianne Miedema, who suffered a devasting ACL injury in December 2022, made her return to the pitch for Arsenal in October 2023.
Many players in the Arsenal squad have just recently returned to London, after the February international break. Miedema only played 45 minutes of football for the Netherlands, when they were beaten by World Champions Spain, who went on to win the inaugural Women’s Nations League.
Miedema’s Arsenal & Netherlands teammate, Victoria Pelova, did not play any minutes for the Netherlands during international break. Indeed, the two left the camp early, and the Netherlands went on to lose 0-2 to Germany, and failed to reach Paris 2024 Olympics.
While Pelova has returned to Arsenal Women’s matchday squad, for the North London derby at a sold-out Emirates today, Sunday 3rd March, Miedema will be sidelined for several weeks once she has undergone knee surgery.
“We will have an update on [her fitness] after the surgery and when we see how she’s progressing,” said Eidevall in his pre-Tottenham Hotspur press conference, as he confirmed that Miedema will not be available for the fixture.
“She didn’t need the surgery because of the 45 minutes she played against Spain.
“It was nothing that the Dutch team did that complicated this or made the situation worse, it was a situation that needed to be fixed anyway.
“Of course it’s a little bit frustrating to lose Viv to an injury again especially considering how well she has been playing since the return from a knee injury. But we also know this is quite normal when players return from an ACL injury that there could be minor complications.
“She requires a minor knee surgery. It’s not going to take her our for months. It’s several weeks and we are here to support her in that process.”
The final fixture of the 2023-24 WSL season is on 18th May. Several weeks could mean that we won’t see Miedema back on the pitch this season, which is such a shame.
Hopefully this is a small set-back and Viv will be back in action soon.
Michelle M
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