Arsenal forward Danielle van de Donk will undergo a scan in London to discover the extent of an ankle injury picked up on international duty at the weekend. van de Donk left the pitch in tears after badly twisting her ankle during Netherlands’ friendly with Canada.
The Gunners forward fell awkwardly under an innocuous first half challenge and had to be replaced. Netherlands manager Sarina Wiegman says the player has gone back to London to undergo a scan, but that her suspicion is that the injury is bad.
Vivianne Miedema also travelled back to London on Sunday to rejoin Arsenal after complaining of a minor thigh problem. It is expected that she will be fit to play against Tottenham on Sunday, Jill Roord also seems to have recovered from a thigh injury picked up in training with Netherlands and may play some part of their friendly against France tonight.
Wiegman said of van de Donk, “It certainly didn’t look good. The first expectation is that it is a slightly more serious injury. She is now back in London. She is being investigated. As a result of that investigation it will be clear what exactly is going on.”
As well as the WSL title run-in, Arsenal have a Champions League quarter-final with PSG on the horizon, with the first leg to be played on 25th March and the second leg in Paris on 1st April. The Gunners are already without Katrine Veje, Dan Carter, Kim Little, Lia Wälti and Beth Mead, while Katie McCabe is suspended for the visit of Spurs in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Well… the good news is that if Jill, Viv, Lisa and Beats are ok, we are able to field a team of 11 players. The bad news is that 3 of those 11 are returning from the other side of the world sometime in thursday or friday and 4 of those 11 may not be fit. Our midfield for foreseeable future is Jill with thigh problem, Jordan and Leah. Jordan has already played game and a half in States and will probably play the last one, because she is the only english midfielder who is actually good and Phil needs… Read more »
Yep, it becomes a question of holding back the tide and a fair few players will have to go through the red zone now. I’ve been tracking the minutes this season and no players are at over 85% (DvD and Leah are the closest at about 83%). The squad is generally well rotated and most of the injuries have been impact injuries. I know people have a bee in their bonnet about the squad being small and I get it, but I do think this has been a period of bad luck. Muscle injuries are the ones that you look… Read more »
The statistics might prove that it isn’t a physical “loading” issue (although Beth’s injury might be down to a consistent “battering” issue). Ultimately the mental issues might be equally significant. I recall Viv’s interview just after the last game before Christmas where she expressedhow she and her team mates were looking forward to going home for the Winter break, it sounded like a yearning. The statistics might prove otherwise, imo Viv has looked slightly off key since the New Year whether that’s mental or physical or a combination I know not. I think my observation could be applied to a… Read more »
I think this “small squad thing” is at moment living life of his own. I am sure that if Chelsea or City had 5 injuries to their starting line up and would be missing 2/3 of starting midfield or both starting CB’s, they wouldn’t be able to field as strong of squad as we were able to put out to Conti Final. My only problems with squad depth are that we didn’t replace Dan Carter in summer after her ACL and backup DM thing after Joe decided in summer that Viki isn’t up for it. I personally don’t like using… Read more »
I completely agree that back up to Lia is the biggest hole in the squad for the reasons you outline.
One could almost laugh, rather than cry, at the continuous injury woes of this team. It must be something in the water at Arsenal. It’s really gotten very frustrating. And rarely any small knocks but problems that keep players out for months. Veje hasn’t played since very early in the season; Walti has been out for two months (with a hamstring?); Little has been out for many weeks and who knows how much longer it will take her to recover from surgery. Last year Montemurro signed a couple of players who got hurt early and didn’t play all year. Let’s… Read more »
Does anyone know what the outcome of the scan was?