Prolific Arsenal attacker Vivianne Miedema scored her first goal since returning from an ACL injury in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Liverpool. The 27-year-old fired in from long range to open the scoring for the Gunners at Prenton Park, netting the 78th goal of her WSL career so far.
She suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in December 2022’s UEFA Champions League game against Lyon, and underwent surgery before rehabilitation.
Miedema spoke to the press after the game about what had been ‘a long time coming’ for her:
‘Obviously on a personal note, it had been more than 400 days since I last scored in the WSL,’ she said.
‘I think the way the girls celebrated with me says enough – obviously it’s been a long time coming, I’ve worked really hard for it.’
‘I think since the winter I feel like a different player again, like I feel so much more like me and it’s really nice that this one’s ticked off and we can just all move on.’
Embed from Getty ImagesMiedema is the all-time top goalscorer in both the Barclays Women’s Super League and for her home country of the Netherlands, and it seems she never lost that goalscoring instinct during her absence.
‘To be fair I’ve not actually really thought about it [scoring her first goal back] that much, but it’s funny because this morning on the bus I said to Beth [Mead] ‘It just feels good today.’ I feel like I’ve been training really well and scoring a lot of goals in training, and it might happen here.’
‘I’ve read online that I am pretty decent at scoring against Liverpool as well, so I thought I needed to keep up that stat!’
‘As I said, it was really nice that it went in, and that first one’s done now.’
Miedema will be hoping to continue in similar fashion next time out, when Arsenal face West Ham United at Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday 4th February.
