Arsenal are hurting but must recover quickly in WSL race for European places

In the aftermath of Arsenal’s crushing 5-4 aggregate defeat to Wolfsburg to exit the Women’s Champions League at the semi-final stage, Jonas Eidevall was asked about his team’s chances in the tournament next season.

“I think first we need to try to qualify for the competition next season,” he said matter-of-factly. “It is a tough WSL and we are in a tough situation, we have to get our feet and heads back after this because we are hurting tonight. But on Friday we have a really important game against a Leicester team who have really picked themselves up.”

He is right. It would be extremely presumptuous to assume that Arsenal will be in the Champions League next season. Five points separate the Gunners, who sit outside the three Champions League spots in fourth, and Chelsea in third. Both London teams have two games in hand over league leaders Manchester United and second-place Manchester City. They are nine and six points ahead of Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s injury crisis continues. Thursday’s news about Laura Wienroither’s ACL rupture takes the team’s tally to four of the destabilising injuries in under six months. How bad then would missing out on Champions League football be for the Gunners?

The value of participating in the UWCL is clear. Since the introduction of the 16-team group stage for the 2021-22 season it has been ramped up with each of the 16 teams receiving €400,000 (£350,000) and the winner of the tournament earning up to €1.4m.

There is literal value there and, while it is a small amount of money in the context of clubs of the scale of Arsenal, it is significant compared with the budgets for women’s football teams.

However, of even greater significance is the non-financial value of competing in Europe’s