Arsenal Women coach Jonas Eidevall says the return of Beth Mead to the travelling squad for Arsenal’s UWCL qualifying games in Linkoping is both a reward for her hard work but also a lift to other players currently rehabbing from ACL injuries.
Mead ruptured her ACL in November and, in her wake, Vivianne Miedema (December), Leah Williamson (April), Laura Wienroither (May) and Teyah Goldie (June) have all suffered the same injury. Mead is the first of the group to return.
‘It’s so nice when you welcome a player back because you know how hard they have fought for so many months,’ Eidevall told Arseblog News in his pre-match press conference. ‘That starts off the pitch and then on the pitch to be able to get into this shape.
‘Beth is here and she can travel with us, she is the first of our long-term injuries to return. We hope that is a turning point for more players to come back as well.
‘Mentally we hope this is a lift for the other injured players too to see her coming back because we know this well happen again this season for them.’
When pressed by Arseblog News on whether Mead can be involved for tomorrow’s UWCL qualifier against Linkoping, Eidevall said, ‘No. She is not there yet, this comes a little too early for her. But she is not very far.’
Eidevall’s four summer signings, Alessia Russo, Laia Codina, Amanda Ilestedt and Cloe Lacasse are all in the travelling squad though most have only trained together for a week now.
The Gunners boss is still optimistic about the contribution they can make in Sweden this week. ‘One week is better than one day. It is what it is, we cannot do it any other way around so I don’t really think about it that way.
‘I knew I only had nine days to get the players ready and we are doing our very best with every day available to us.’ The match will be played on a synthetic pitch in Linkoping and Eidevall was equally untroubled by that.
‘We haven’t really discussed it because that is not a good use of our preparation time. It’s a condition that is given to us. I think there is a time and place to have a more proper and in-depth discussion about using mini-tournaments to decide Champions League qualification.
‘But that is for another time, right now our focus is the game tomorrow and getting the best possible result.’
LANS
Imagine a team that bought Mead, Miedema, and Williamson.
Well, it’s certainly given the fans a lift!
But artificial pitches….bleurgh.
Think of it as an all-weather pitch – it is further north than Glasgow, after all.
Beth Mead is one of Arsenal’s “golden” girls – it’s a hugely welcome return!