Arsenal Women's head coach Jonas Eidevall has announced that Vivianne Miedema will soon undergo a "minor" knee operation and will be absent for several weeks.
The Netherlands international - who previously sustained a serious ACL injury midway through the 2022-23 campaign - has been restricted to just seven Women's Super League appearances in the 2023-24 season as Eidevall carefully manages her minutes.
Miedema came off the bench to play 16 minutes in a 3-1 win over Manchester United at the Emirates on February 17 before jetting off for the UEFA Women's Nations League Finals, where the Netherlands lost to Germany in the third-placed playoff.
Miedema was named in her country's starting lineup for their semi-final loss to Spain, but alongside fellow Gunner Victoria Pelova, the 27-year-old returned to Arsenal before the bronze medal match with the Germans.
Following the international hiatus, Arsenal are back in WSL action against North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur Ladies on Sunday lunchtime, but Eidevall had bad news to share on Miedema's condition in his pre-game press conference.
The Gunners head coach confirmed that the striker had sustained another knee issue and would require surgery, but her current concern is not as severe as her ACL injury from 2022, and she should be back in action before the campaign concludes.
"Let's start with the bad news then, that's with Viv Miedema. She requires a minor knee surgery and that is gonna have her off the pitch for several weeks. We will have an update on that after the surgery and when we see how she's progressing," arsenal.com quotes Eidevall as saying.
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Eidevall also defended the Netherlands' decision to play her against Spain and affirmed that Miedema would have needed to go under the knife regardless, adding: "We have good communication with all the national teams that we work with, but we also have to have a lot of respect for the autonomy in the decision-making.
"The Netherlands were playing some really important games for them - both for a Nations League trophy and maybe more importantly for an Olympic qualification, and they also needed to make the decisions that were best for them.
"But what's important in all these conversations is that I always think we put the player in the forefront and we try to find solutions that are best for the player and we need to cooperate.
"She doesn't need the surgery because of those 45 minutes she played against Spain. She would have needed surgery anyway, so it was nothing that the Dutch team did that complicated or made the situation worse. It was a situation that needed to be fixed anyway."
On a brighter note, Eidevall confirmed that Leah Williamson - who withdrew from the England squad with a muscle injury - has been making strong progress in training and is in contention for the derby.
Pelova is also winning her battle to be fit for the Emirates encounter, as is Katie McCabe, but Amanda Ilestedt, Lina Hurtig and Michelle Agyemang have all been ruled out.
Arsenal are three points behind Chelsea and Manchester City in third place in the WSL table, three spots and 12 points better off than Tottenham, who lie smack-bang in the middle of the rankings in sixth.
Ben Knapton
