Arsenal Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie against Sp*rs Women due to take place on Sunday has been called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. WSL matches against Bristol City on March 22nd and West Ham on March 29th will also be called off as the women’s game falls into line with the suspension of the Premier League and men’s FA Cup until April 3rd at least.
UEFA did not mention the Women’s Champions League in their recent announcement that the next round of Champions and Europa League games would be suspended, with the fate of the next round of Women’s Champions League games due to be confirmed when UEFA meets on Tuesday. With Arsenal scheduled to play PSG at home on March 25th and away on April 1st in the quarter-finals, those games will almost certainly form part of the mass cancellations in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Gunners forward Caitlin Foord had already begun 14 days of self-isolation on Thursday after playing for Australia in Vietnam on Wednesday. London Colney was closed down on Thursday evening after men’s team manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for COVID-19. The women’s team share London Colney with the men. Most of the players have been away from the site for the last fortnight competing for their countries, while manager Joe Montemurro has already returned to Australia for personal leave.
The women’s calendar doesn’t have a FIFA or UEFA tournament this summer, but the likes of Jen Beattie, Leah Williamson, Danielle van de Donk, Jordan Nobbs, Kim Little, Vivianne Miedema, Jill Roord, Caitlin Foord and Beth Mead are all in line to compete in this summer’s Olympic games. It remains to be seen how the overall women’s calendar will cope with the disruption.
We will try to put out some episodes of the Arsenal Women Arsecast over the next few weeks to fill the gap a little!
It will at least give us a chance to get one or two of the injured players back!
Hey Tim……not forgetting Lisa Evans!
Tim, I’ve just chanced across your “Paradise Lost” item. Great read, thanks. For the benefit of your AWFC audience perhaps you could re-post on the AWFC page. It certinly brightened my self-isolation morning.