The sight of the England captain Leah Williamson on her stomach waving an arm in the air before crashing it to the ground in frustration, after her knee seemed to pop following an innocuous challenge, marred Manchester United’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal that kept their title charge well and truly alive.
It was a worrying scene for the England manager Sarina Wiegman, with fewer than 100 days to go until the World Cup gets under way in Australia and New Zealand, and more immediately concerning for an injury-ravaged Arsenal, who were already having to play the centre-back in midfield to cope with an injury list that is growing match by match.
Williamson had stepped forward into the middle 10 minutes into Arsenal’s Champions League quarter final second leg against Bayern Munich, to compensate for the loss of Kim Little to a knee injury that this week was announced as season-ending
At Leigh Sports Village, in a critical game in a four-way title race, it was Williamson who would crumble to the turf, in the 12th minute this time, to force Eidevall to try and ram more square pegs into round holes before their Champions League semi-final against Wolfsburg on Sunday.
Williamson went off, helped down the tunnel by Little and was seen on crutches at half-time, adding her name to a list of injured players that includes Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, who have cruciate ligament injuries, Caitlin Foord, who is close to returning, and Steph Catley, who was deemed fit enough for the bench in Leigh.
The forward Gio Queiroz, who was recalled from a loan spell with Everton in January, would be the player to enter in Williamson’s stead, highlighting the lack of midfield options available.
Eidevall had made three changes to the team which earned an impressive 2-1 win against Manchester City before the international break. Manuela Zinsberger returned in goal and Laura Wienroither and Kathrine Kuhl came in, in place of the suspended Katie McCabe and the injured Foord. Williamson’s absence “disrupted us a lot, it was in a position where we really didn’t want to have to make an early substitution. That put us in a very difficult situation,” said Eidevall.
For Skinner, there were two changes to the team which earned a late 3-2 FA Cup semi-final win over Brighton on Saturday, with Aoife Mannion replacing the centre-back Millie Turner and Nikita Parris coming in for Lucia García.
The first sniff had fallen to Arsenal, but Alessia Russo posed a threat for the hosts from the off, and would have her first chance minutes later, lashing wide from the edge of the area after wriggling into space. Once Williamson went down, however, the sting went out of the game, with United seemingly as rattled by her exit as Arsenal.
Arsenal’s injury woes almost went from worse to completely unmanageable. Midfielders Lia Wälti and Frida Maanum were both on the end of hefty challenges from Katie Zelem and the latter received lengthy treatment before returning. It looked like Arsenal would stagger into the break with the game goalless but deep into stoppage time United finally found their flow. Centre-back Maya Le Tissier collected a loose ball before releasing Parris on the right, the winger wriggled to the byline and cut back for Russo who powered in from the penalty spot. It was swift, clinical and a body blow to the bruised Gunners.
There was a double change for Arsenal at half-time, with Catley thrown into the mix for Wienroither perhaps sooner than they would have liked and Jen Beattie entering in place of Kuhl.
Despite their depleted forces and United’s control, there was an intensity to Arsenal’s press that had been missing in the first half. It was far from pretty, and United should have perhaps done more to take advantage of the Gunners’ injury problems, but Russo’s goal was enough.
Brighton have climbed off the bottom of the table, leapfrogging Leicester and Reading in the relegation battle after a hard-fought 3-2 home win over Everton.
Elisabeth Terland opened the scoring for the hosts with a 12th-minute header, before Katie Robinson made it 2-0 with a smart run and deft finish just before the break.
Katja Snoeijs pulled one back for Everton in the 63rd minute, but Terland pounced to restore Brighton's two-goal lead 10 minutes from time. Snoeijs got her second three minutes later, but it was not enough to salvage anything for the visitors.
“I was emotional, I felt the team deserved more from an attitude perspective,” said Eidevall. “I thought they were brilliant. They did everything I could ask them to do in a really, really tough game. They stuck together, they stayed positive, they tried to find solutions, they tried to express themselves on the ball. They were there for each other. I told them after the City game I was proud of them. Maybe today I am even more proud of them, with the attitude they show.”
United move six points clear of Arsenal, who have a game in hand, and four clear of second-place Chelsea, who have two games in hand. United and Chelsea will meet in the FA Cup final and both can still dream of the double.
