Arsenal’s women romped to yet another win on Sunday when they put four past Brighton and Hove Albion, but why did they only have four subs on the bench?
Vivianne Miedema scored and assisted yet again as Arsenal claimed their 11th straight victory to maintain their 100% league record. Her goal took her to 14 league goals for the season after just nine games. The record is 15.
With Jordan Nobbs, Kim Little, Tabea Kemme, Viktoria Schnaderbeck, and Danielle Carter already sidelined, the last thing Arsenal need ahead of their Manchester City showdown next weekend is anything to happen to Miedema. Unfortunately, she might have picked up a back problem at a time when Arsenal are quite simply running out of players.
For the game against Brighton, Joe Montemurro named Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (26), Ava Kuyken (17), Ruby Grant and Paige Bailey-Gayle (17) on the bench, leaving three slots vacant.
The reason for this has to do with The FA’s rule 8.11.3 that states:
Where registered and subject to Rule 2.4, a maximum of 3 Academy/Reserve
players may be included on a Club’s Team Sheet for each Competition Match.
Arsenal have just run out of senior players due to the number of injuries they currently have but were restricted to naming just three academy players on the bench because of the FA’s rules.
Can you imagine the same sort of thing in the men’s game?
In other Arsenal women’s news you might have missed over the weekend, Vivianne Miedema is closing in on the FA WSL scoring record while Ava Kuyken is off to the States in the summer.