Arsenal Women manager Jonas Eidevall says that new signing Jodie Taylor will be available for Saturday’s North London derby away at Spurs. 36-year-old Taylor was a free agent after her contract expired at San Diego Wave in December.
Taylor has not played since the end of last year and has been training with a personal coach in the meantime. Arseblog News asked Eidevall a clutch of questions about the former England international, who also played for the Gunners in 2016-17.
“The first question is easy, whether she is available for tomorrow, yes she is.” Arseblog News also asked what her role is likely to be given her lack of playing time in recent months and the fact that she is on a short-term contract until the end of the season.
“Second part is what role- we have to be realistic, she hasn’t played for quite a while,” Eidevall explained. “She has practiced on her own and done a brilliant job there but she hasn’t practiced in a team environment for quite some time.
“We need to give her time, we can see her as a player that impacts our culture and our environment in a positive way, not just in training but in matches.”
Arseblog News asked whether her signing in March was linked to the recent foot injury to Steph Catley and whether the knock-on effect of Katie McCabe potentially being needed at left-back caused him to act and secure another forward. Eidevall had a positive update on the injury to Catley.
“The third part, we were looking at forwards because, from a numbers perspective, we are running low. We are not that many injuries away from not having any squad depth at all in those positions.
“Jodie wasn’t triggered specifically because Steph Catley is unavailable now. We have a quite positive progonosis on Steph, we don’t expect her to be sidelined much more than the games before the international break (in early April).
“That is not something that we think at the moment is going to be season ending or anything like that. It is more tied to the forward situation overall than to Steph Catley.”
Arsenal play away at Spurs on Saturday afternoon at 3pm at Brisbane Road, the game will be broadcast live on Sky Showcase in the UK. You can read a full match preview for that game here.
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