Injured Arsenal Women’s midfield star returns to pitch following 5 months of no playing action

In a preseason match that concluded our Gunners’ US tour last Sunday, Arsenal Women faced Chelsea Women. The game, which unfortunately concluded with a Chelsea victory of 1-0, provided numerous insights.

One observation from the game was that Lia Walti is once again in peak physical condition and prepared to compete. The Swiss midfielder has been unavailable for selection since mid-March. She has been diligently working to recover from a knee injury she sustained during Arsenal training for the past five months.

Over the summer, she regarded her rehabilitation period as difficult, but she was relieved to have past it. Well, she took the next step in her recovery on Sunday, when she returned from injury with a 13-minute cameo against the Blues.

While she is still working on her fitness, it is expected that her game time will be limited at first, but the goal is that by the start of the 2024-25 WSL season, she will have regained her stride.
Following that London derby at the Audi Field, Walti captioned her latest Instagram post,

“Happy to be back with the team that makes it all worth it. Grateful to everyone who had my back over the last 5 months and helped me make my comeback! (Love Emoji)”

While Victoria Pelova is still recovering from an ACL injury she sustained on international service after the season, Jonas Eidevall needs all of his top midfielders, including Walti, to be fit.
It is wonderful that she’s back.