Injury-hit Arsenal fight back against Wolfsburg in WCL semi-final first leg

Jonas Eidevall had said he wanted to see a “complete performance” from his depleted Arsenal in their semi-final first leg away to Wolfsburg. A litany of errors that would allow Ewa Pajor to slot in the German side’s first and horrifically gift Sveindis Jónsdóttír a second within 24 minutes, was perhaps as far from a complete performance as you could get.

Instead, Eidevall had to settle for a battling and smart comeback, and goals from Rafaelle Souza on the stroke of half-time and Stina Blackstenius in the second half mean the Gunners welcome Wolfsburg to the Emirates in eight days well and truly in the tie with the score level at 2-2.

After Arsenal progressed past Bayern Munich in a sumptuous fashion, there was optimism heading into the final stages of the season. The announcement that Leah Williamson had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in Arsenal’s 1-0 loss to Manchester United in midweek, changed that.

It is not that Williamson is irreplaceable, but more that her injury has been perceived as one too many. It is Arsenal’s third ACL injury of the season, with Dutch record goalscorer Vivianne Miedema and Euro 22 golden boot-winner Beth Mead ruled out towards the end of 2022. Their captain, Kim Little, was sidelined for the rest of the season with another knee injury in the second leg against Bayern, but somehow Arsenal prevailed.

Arsenal also travelled to Germany without their forwards Caitlin Foord and Lina Hurtig, who are both close to returning from injury, and Gio Queiroz and Jodie Taylor are not registered to play in the Champions League.

Without Williamson, Arsenal are being stretched that bit too far. In Wolfsburg, to try and compensate Eidevall set up with a back three of Lotte Wubben-Moy, Jen Beattie and