POINTS PILING UP…BUT SO ARE THE INJURIES
Arsenal defeated bottom club Everton at the Merseyrail Community Stadium yesterday, with goals from Danielle van de Donk, Jordan Nobbs and another pair for Vivianne Miedema. But the result was overshadowed by a painful looking knee injury to Jordan Nobbs. Jordan collapsed in pain and required oxygen as she appeared to get her studs caught in the turf.
Arsenal Women maintained their 100% record with a 4-0 victory over Everton in Southport
Posted by The FA Women's Super League on Monday, 19 November 2018
Arsenal await the results of a scan, but fans should be braced for bad news, with a possible ACL injury which would probably, somewhat tragically, rule Jordan out of next summer’s World Cup too. That would be an unspeakably cruel blow for a player who has 8 goals in her last 6 games and is playing the football of her life. It was certainly difficult to see and hear her in such obvious distress yesterday.
Arsenal confirmed a reaction in Tabea Kemme’s knee too after making her return from 8 months out with a cartilage problem, again, I would be prepared for bad news here. Jess Samuelsson confirmed on her Instagram that she missed yesterday’s game with an injury. Jess’ recovery from two dislocated metatarsal bones 13 months ago has been slow and she appears to have suffered a setback.
DvD
?? @DanielleDonk is enjoying her best goalscoring season in Arsenal colours ?
8️⃣ games
7️⃣ goals
2️⃣ assists? @joerdeli1 pic.twitter.com/ULAfsAhQyz
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 18, 2018
With injuries to Kim Little and now Jordan Nobbs, Danielle van de Donk’s enormous improvement will need to be maintained. The Dutch attacking midfielder has been a revelation this season and has already enjoyed her best season in front of goal for the Gunners. She opened the scoring with a rasping left footed strike again yesterday.
Weak foot? What weak foot? ?
Here's @DanielleDonk with an inch-perfect finish against @EvertonLadies ? pic.twitter.com/hWOWDISFmq
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 19, 2018
van de Donk’s versatility has become a real boon in Arsenal’s fluid attacking midfield and there will be great onus on her to continue that form both as a creator and a goalscorer. We will have an interesting interview feature with DvD on Wednesday. I chatted with her about what an average week looks like for an Arsenal Women’s player in terms of training, preparation, strength, conditioning, diet, recovery and video analysis. It’s a really interesting piece so keep them peeled!
Just @DanielleDonk things ? pic.twitter.com/qozLPYgpwj
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 17, 2018
MIEDEMA THE REDEEMER
Vivianne Miedema continued her unerring form in front of goal with another brace at Everton. She has 13 goals and 6 assists in the opening 8 WSL games this season and also bagged a hat trick against Lewes in the Conti Cup. Viv is quite possibly the best striker in the world at the moment and key to Arsenal’s continued good form.
?? @VivianneMiedema ?#WeAreTheArsenal pic.twitter.com/LpnwlEDb1e
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 19, 2018
I spoke to manager Joe Montemurro about Miedema’s form and he told me, “We work so much on creating actions and chances, so having someone that is so reliable at finishing those actions is great. Her movements are always spot on, so if we are right in creating those opportunities, she is always on the end of them and we’re delighted to have someone that can put those away.”
4️⃣ goals
3️⃣ points
2️⃣ for @VivianneMiedema
1️⃣ clean sheet? Read the post-match report from our 4-0 win over @EvertonLadies in the @FAWSL ? https://t.co/kREy1vkqmr
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 18, 2018
Such is Miedema’s prowess in front of goal, international colleague Danielle van de Donk has taken to celebrating before Miedema even shoots…
?? Daniëlle celebrating goal by @VivianneMiedema before she even hit it. Congrats! ?? pic.twitter.com/5n4PDNwO0Y
— WoSo Comps (@WoSoComps) November 13, 2018
HAO IN THE HOUSE
Yesterday’s match saw a familiar face in the crowd as ex-Gunner and USWNT legend Heather O’Reilly came to watch her old team on a trip back to England. HAO was in attendance when Arsenal played Wolves last weekend and travelled to Southport to watch her old teammates in action.
Heather did some work for the BBC’s live coverage of the game, but HAO opted to sit with the Arsenal Women’s Supporters Club during the game. HAO took the opportunity to speak to old friends in the dressing room and in the stands. She remains an excellent ambassador for women’s football and for Arsenal.
CHARLTON GAME REARRANGED
The Conti Cup home game against Charlton Athletic originally scheduled for Thursday, 6th December at Meadow Park, has been moved forward 24 hours and will now take place on Wednesday, 5th December at 7.45pm.
COMING UP…
As mentioned earlier in this post, we will have a feature interview with Danielle van de Donk on the site on Wednesday and there will be a full match preview for Sunday’s game against Brighton & Hove Albion on the site on Friday afternoon. The Brighton match will be live on BBC Online and the red button.
Such a great start to the season, let’s hope it isn’t derailed by injuries.
With a six point lead over Man City that will help but hope the positivity of 10 games played altogether this season and 50 goals, conceding 5 will stand them in good stead.
2nd December is the big one v Man City (second in the league).
Then no more league games until January when hopefully we get some of the injuries returned.
number 7 is Quality! The technical level is really impressive. COYWG
Having both Kim and Jordan out for the City match is a huge blow. I think we can only hope to get a lucky victory or a draw out of that one. Hopefully Kim is able to return in the new year and hits the ground running, as there will be a few interesting matches just after the winter break.
It’s good that we’ve signed one new player already, I hope we’ll sign another few to have at least some squad to take on the rest of the season…
Hope it’s not too bad for Jordan. Amazing player and very important for England too. Devastating for her if it’s long-term
I’m enjoying the increasing focus on the womens team and it’s great to the improvement in quality of the women’s team as a whole
So heartbreaking for Jordan. Hope for a solid recovery for all of the players out. Wish the team the best in continuing their run of form.
Heather O’Reilly seems like a truly special person.
With these injuries, this next couple of months will be Joe’s toughest challenge so far. Just thinking sadly of all those promising young midfielders who left… Sigh.
Yep, would be good to still have Chloe Kelly around… not to mention Vicky Losada of course….