In their upcoming Nations League match against Scotland, the Dutch national women’s football team is contending with limited availability from star players including Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema and Victoria Pelova.

National coach Andries Jonker, however, remains unfazed, affirming the strength of his squad.

The Dutch national women’s football team will face Scotland in their Nations League match without the full arsenal of their star players, with former Gunner, Dominique Janssen, set to miss the match and both Vivianne Miedema and Victoria Pelova on restricted playing time.

Despite these challenges, national coach, and former Arsenal coach, Andries Jonker remains confident that the team will perform strongly at Hampden Park.

“Things must be crazy if the national coach of the Dutch women wants to make a change in the starting team that defeated Scotland 4-0 with quite good football on Friday in Nijmegen,” Jonker said.

Arsenal players Miedema and Pelova are not yet fully match-fit.

Nonetheless, Jonker expressed a sentiment that can only be considered flattering for Miedema: “I always have the Van Basten feeling with her,” he said, referring to Dutch football legend Marco van Basten.

Miedema herself recently stated she felt “more nervous than before the World Cup final” upon her emotional return to the Dutch squad.

In the centre-back position, Kerstin Casparij will replace the injured Janssen. This comes after Casparij, a Manchester City player, found limited opportunities during the World Cup last summer, appearing for only a total of ninety minutes over five matches.

Meanwhile, FC Twente attacker Renate Jansen will again be deployed as an offensive defender, a role in which she thrived during the team’s last outing against Scotland.

Jonker also praised his team’s performance in recent matches. “After training together for weeks before and during the World Cup, I think we now have more than eleven good players. The team has developed,” Jonker stated from Glasgow. He went on to elaborate: “See how Kerstin and Renate replaced Dominique and Victoria against Scotland, or how Caitlin Dijkstra quietly takes over from Stefanie van der Gragt in a completely different way. That is not a coincidence, that process took place last summer.”

Currently, the Dutch team tops Group 1 of the Nations League, featuring Belgium, England, and Scotland.

The upcoming fixture between the Netherlands and England is scheduled for 1 December at a sold-out Wembley Stadium and is expected to attract more than 90,000 spectators.

The group stage will conclude four days later with a home match against Belgium.

The winner of the group will qualify for the Final Four, a stage offering two tickets for the Olympic Games.