Arsenal have made history once again, selling out Emirates Stadium for the first time in their history.

Monday’s Champions League semifinal will not be the first time the women’s team has played at Emirates this season, with the club having made a vow to play at least six matches at the venue this season. But it is the first time Arsenal have sold all of the 60,704 available tickets.

And fans are in for an exciting match, with the club playing the second leg of its Champions League semifinal against VfL Wolfsburg. The two teams are tied 2-2 after the first leg.

“‘Exciting’ doesn’t do it justice,” Arsenal and England defender Lotte Wubben-Moy said when asked about the sellout. “A lot of hard work has gone into this. When you look at the future sustainability in the game for Arsenal Women as a club that’s what’s most exciting for me. I hope every Gooner there will be screaming their hearts out.”

Of course, they’ve sold many seats in the stadium before, having attracted a Women’s Super League record crowd of 47,367 for the north London derby in September when they played Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal have bought into marketing the women’s games, with the marketing team remaining as one rather than having a separate team for the women’s side. That has helped bolster a trend of increasing attendance in the WSL in the wake of England’s Euros win.

It’s a step in the right direction for the club. Chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has said that he hopes to see the women’s team play all their matches at Emirates down the road. And with the club now selling out the stadium, that seems more and more likely.

“I don’t see this as an end-point for it. For me this has always been the natural progression that we were going to get here [selling out], whether it was this game or not,” manager Jonas Eidevall said. “I hope when we look back on the day tomorrow, in history, that we can see that was a starting point — to make this a regular occurrence.”

Arsenal were delayed returning from their Champions League semifinal Sunday after their plane burst into flames on the runway at the Braunschweig Wolfsburg Airport in Germany.

Following a 2-2 semifinal draw against Wolfsburg, the Arsenal women’s team was traveling home to England when a bird reportedly flew into the left engine of the team plane during takeoff, causing the fire. The takeoff was halted and the players and support staff were evacuated, the Telegraph reported Monday.

“Our aircraft developed a technical issue prior to take-off in Germany on Sunday evening,” Arsenal said in a statement. “As a result, we remained in Wolfsburg overnight on Sunday before flying back to England on Monday afternoon. We would like to thank the staff onboard the aircraft and on the ground at the airport for their assistance.”

No one was injured in the incident. The team spent the night in a local hotel and flew back to London on Monday.

The second leg of the Champions League semifinal will be played Monday at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. A crowd of nearly 50,000 is expected for the match.

England captain Leah Williamson will miss this summer’s World Cup after rupturing the ACL in her right knee in Arsenal’s match against Manchester United on Wednesday.

The club confirmed the news Thursday.

“Leah will now begin a period of rehabilitation and is set for an extended spell on the sidelines. She will undergo surgery in due course,” the team said in a statement.

“Everyone at Arsenal will be supporting Leah closely throughout the journey ahead and we would ask that her privacy is respected at this time.”

In a statement, Williamson said that while she has “made my peace with it” on the night that it happened, she would “need some quiet” to let the situation sink in.

“Unfortunately, the World Cup and Champions League dream is over for me and everyone will think that’s the main focus, but it’s the day to day of what I’m about to go through that is the most draining of my thoughts,” she wrote. “Ultimately, I think it’s just my time. In the past couple of years alone I have watched teammates beat serious illnesses and adversity with the biggest smiles on their faces.

“I haven’t had a day since last October when I’ve walked on to the pitch without a physical or mental question mark over me, and that’s professional sports. So now I have to listen to my body, give it what it needs and if everything happens for a reason, then we’ll see what road this turn sends me down.”

Williamson fell to the ground in the 12th minute of the 1-0 loss after appearing to catch her studs on the turf. She immediately signaled to the bench for treatment.

While she was able to walk off the pitch on her own, she did have to be helped down the tunnel to the locker room.

After the match, Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall called out the packed calendar and the field conditions as possible contributing factors.

“I think it’s going to continue here with the schedule we have and pitches like that, players are going to get injured,” he said. “That is something that we all need to improve on – the facilities where we play, so we can keep the players on the pitch.”

Williamson isn’t the first Arsenal player to go down with an injury this season. Both Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead are out with ACL injuries and likely are out of the World Cup, the former for the Netherlands and the latter for England. Kim Little is also out with a hamstring injury.

Arsenal is in the running for the Women’s Super League title and the Champions League title, but the growing injury list presents a problem for the club.

“Nobody wanted to see that,” Manchester United manager Marc Skinner said of Williamson’s injury. “I’ve just seen her inside, she seemed in really high spirits. We obviously wish it’s something minor and just a precaution. We wish her all the best. We all want to see her lead the Lionesses in the summer.”

With the severity of the injury revealed, though, Williamson will be relegated to supporting the national team from the sidelines. The 26-year-old defender played an integral role in leading the team to its first Euros title last July.

England saw its 30-match unbeaten streak snapped in a friendly against Australia earlier this month, but the Lionesses remain among the favorites to win this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Without Williamson, though, their odds likely will take a hit.

Vivianne Miedema is on a hot streak, scoring four times in four games to help move Arsenal into second place in the Women’s Super League standings.

In Sunday’s game against Aston Villa, Miedema scored the team’s second goal in a 4-1 win. Arsenal has 24 points on the season, three behind first-place Chelsea.

The Dutch forward also helped Arsenal beat Juventus last Wednesday, scoring the lone goal of the game. That victory moved Arsenal into first place in Group C of the Champions League standings and one win closer to the knockout rounds of the WCL.

Miedema credits her recent barrage to the extended break she took from the sport in November, which included a trip to Australia. Before her sojourn, she had lost her starting spot to teammate Frida Maanum and hadn’t scored in six appearances.

Since her return, the 26-year-old has been vocal about the need for rest — for herself and for all athletes.

Last Tuesday, Miedema spoke once again about her recovery from COVID-19, which kept her out of several matches at this summer’s Euros tournament and in bed for 10 days with a high fever. She returned for the Netherlands’ final game, playing the full 120 minutes.

After the Euros, training for the WSL season began almost immediately. For Miedema, the schedule meant little rest or recovery.

She spent the beginning of the season “almost on autopilot,” she said, before missing the October international window with an illness.

“I just didn’t feel mentally and physically ready to actually play,” she said ahead of Arsenal’s game against Juventus. “I think you could see that in the way that I was playing. I didn’t enjoy my football at that moment. And I think the moment you start not enjoying it, and start waking up in the morning not wanting to go in, I think that’s the moment that you need to make a switch.”

While in Australia, Miedema was able to get herself fit – something she had been unable to do ahead of the season as she recovered from her bout with COVID-19, she said. The game has once again become “easy” for her, she added.

“I feel physically a lot fitter now, and you have seen that in the recent games,” she said.

Miedema hopes that, by prioritizing her health, she can help encourage other players to take breaks. The recent women’s soccer schedule has not allowed for much time off. And an increase in player injuries – particularly torn ACLs – has been a point of concern for many.

Miedema called the injuries a “worrying pattern” in a column for Dutch newspaper AD. Both Leah Williamson and Rafaelle Souza have just returned from injuries for Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Miedema said in her column that her Arsenal teammate and partner Beth Mead likely will miss next summer’s World Cup for England with a torn ACL. Others who have suffered torn ACLs in 2022 include Alexia Putellas, Christen Press and Catarina Macario.

An increase in the number of international windows, leaving club teams with a limited number of players, also has increased player workloads, Miedema said. Women’s national teams have six international windows, while men’s teams play just four.

“As a player you want to play in the big tournaments, the biggest difference is we have more international windows than the men have,” Miedema said. “We also play the Olympics with our A team instead of the U23s. I think that’s something FIFA and UEFA need to start looking at.

“In women’s football, we also don’t have the same sorts of numbers within a squad. Man City’s men’s team probably has 22, 23 full-time, amazing players. This year, I think we’ve got 18,19 players that are capable of being in the squad for us.”

Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall also has spoken about the issue.

“There is always the balance between freshness and having continuity in the training and playing,” he said in November. “We need to strike that balance.”

The rise in popularity of the women’s game has also shed light on the lack of depth in the player pool. More needs to be done to develop talent and increasing the number of “very good football players,” Eidevall said, including the development of better player academies.

“We cannot only focus on the top of the pyramid,” he continued. “We can have more players that are able to play more games and have a better foundation when they step up to be a professional to handle the demands.”

Women’s soccer continues to break records, with Women’s Super League attendance up 200% compared to last season, per the English Football Association.

A record-breaking total of 47,367 people turned out to watch Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur in September. That game was played at Emirates Stadium, building on an exciting summer for the women’s game in which England won its first Euros title.

The UEFA Women’s Euro tournament broke records as well, with 87,192 fans showing up to Wembley Stadium to watch the final.

On the heels of the tournament, the FA saw the opportunity to bring the WSL to new audiences, said Kelly Simmons, the FA director of the women’s professional game.

“The Lionesses’ victory propelled the women’s game in this country to new levels, and it was important for us to capture and capitalize on that momentum,” she said in a statement.

“It has often been said that a successful women’s England team will help generate interest in the domestic game,” she continued. “This is certainly true, and I have been really overwhelmed by the response we have seen from fans — new and old — in the first half of the season.”

Nearly 300,000 fans have showed up to games across the league, according to Simmons.

“This just highlights how much appetite there is for world-class women’s league football,” she said. “We are currently averaging almost 6,000 fans a week in the Barclays Women’s Super League as we go into the final league fixtures of 2022 — which is up over 200% on this time last year.”

Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea have all played in their men’s team stadiums this season to large crowds. But second-tier Women’s Championship has also seen increased attendance, up 85 percent over last year.

Chelsea leads the WSL with 24 points through nine matches.

Vivianne Miedema is concerned about the workload on soccer players as the number of injuries grows.

An increasing number of players have suffered season-ending injuries this year, with the majority of them being ACL tears. That list includes Alexia Putellas, Christen Press, and now, England’s Beth Mead.

In her column for Dutch newspaper AD, Miedema confirmed that Mead will likely miss next summer’s World Cup. She also attributes the increase of injuries to a lack of rest.

“I see a worrying pattern. The playing calendar for both the women and the men is simply too full,” she wrote. “Actually, it’s just a shame. We are in a world that goes on and on and there are few players who say anything about it. I do. We go completely crazy with the tax on football players and football players.

“I can already envisage some of the reactions to this column, you know. ‘We have the best profession in the world, we earn a lot of money and we don’t have to complain. Just play football.'”

As women’s soccer grows in popularity and its standards, the demands on female players continue to increase. The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 and the UEFA Women’s European Championships to 2022 means that European players could carry a workload of playing in five summer tournaments in five straight years.

There are also more games, as leagues like the WCL have introduced group stages and the NWSL has expanded both by teams and games.

Such a packed schedule led to Miedema taking a step back at the beginning of November, she says, explaining her recent absence in her column.

“At the beginning of this month I deliberately took a step back,” she continued. “I felt that my body and mind were ready for a rest. For people who do not work in top sport, that will sound strange. People who do work in our world will understand it better, but many players don’t feel that freedom to stand up for themselves or just want to continue in their tunnel.”

She says that Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall “was initially surprised” by the request but found himself in agreement with one of his star players.

“I spent a large part of the European Championship last summer in my hotel room with Covid-19. After that, the preparation for the season started almost immediately,” she said. “I went through in one go and I paid the price for that. I had to get out.”

Speaking after Arsenal’s match on Thursday, Eidevall spoke about striking a balance. While Miedema has since returned, scoring the tying goal in Arsenal’s draw with Juventus, the issue of scheduling remains.

“There is always the balance between freshness and having continuity in the training and playing,” he said postgame. “We need to strike that balance. You can see that Viv was fighting really hard today with the team on the pitch.”

Player health should be paramount, Eidevall said, noting that there should be protected periods for players in which there are no club or international games played.

“I really think we need to consider in women’s football when we look at the calendar, how we can put the players health first. They are constantly going between really competitive games at club level, onto international level. It has taken a lot of my time thinking about it because my gut says that we are not creating something that is good for the players.

“At the moment there are players who get barely any vacation and it’s consecutive, year after year after year. It’s great if we’re going to have more competitive games but let’s have a calendar that allows players to recover so we can keep the quality too.”

Arsenal striker Beth Mead ruptured her ACL in a Women’s Super League match against Manchester United on Saturday, the team announced Tuesday.

The 27-year-old, who helped lead the England women’s national team to the Euros title in July, will spend “an extended period on the sidelines” as a result of the injury, per Arsenal’s statement, with the timeline for recovery to come after she sees a surgeon.

An ACL injury typically requires six to nine months of recovery time.

For example, U.S. women’s national team star Catarina Macario tore her ACL while playing for French club Lyon in June. The 23-year-old is expected to return to the USWNT in February, eight months after her injury, coach Vlatko Andonovski said ahead of the team’s November friendlies.

The 2023 World Cup kicks off July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, almost exactly eight months after Mead’s injury.

Mead excelled for the Lionesses at the Euros, which were held in England in July. She won both the Golden Boot and the Player of the Tournament awards.

She also finished as runner-up for the 2022 Ballon d’Or. Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the prestigious award for the second year in a row — though Putellas is recovering from her own ACL tear in the lead-up to the Euros.

A week before Mead’s injury, she made her 50th career appearance for England in a 4-0 win against Japan. She has scored 29 career goals with the Lionesses.

Mead led Arsenal with four assists and also had scored three goals this season before the injury. The Gunners are in second place in the WSL standings after Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United, trailing only Chelsea.

Kim Little ended her loan with OL Reign on a high, notching an assist Sunday in her final NWSL game before returning to Women’s Super League club Arsenal.

The 32-year-old served in a perfectly weighted ball to Megan Rapinoe before the OL Reign forward chested down the ball and struck the half-volley past Jane Campbell. Rapinoe’s finish marked the first NWSL goal of 2022 for the USWNT star.

“The people here are really special and every time I come, that fills my heart,” said Little after Sunday’s match. Though Little capped off her second stint with OL Reign with a 2-1 loss to the Houston Dash, the Arsenal star left with confidence in the Seattle club.

“The team we’ve got here is unbelievable and the result today doesn’t show that,” Little said. “I have no doubt this team will be successful come the end of the season. I’ll be watching and supporting them from London.”

Little signed a deal with OL Reign in May, joining the NWSL team on a short-term loan ahead of Arsenal’s preseason. The midfielder previously played with OL Reign between 2014 and 2016, Scoring 32 goals across 63 regular-season appearances while helping the club to two NWSL Shield titles in 2014 and 2015.

Little played 495 minutes in six starts during her summer stint with OL Reign.

Arsenal captain Kim Little is returning to the NWSL, with the 31-year-old joining OL Reign on a short-term loan.

The Scottish striker’s stint with the Seattle-based club kicks off on June 1 and will conclude on Aug. 15 ahead of Arsenal’s preseason.

This isn’t Little’s first run with OL Reign. She played with the team, then known as Seattle Reign FC, between 2014 and 2016. Scoring 32 goals across 63 regular-season appearances, Little led the club to two NWSL Shield titles in 2014 and 2015 and earned NWSL MVP during the 2014 campaign.

“Bringing Kim back to the PNW is huge, Kim will go down in history as one of the best players to ever play in the NWSL and to have the chance to work with her again is exciting,” OL Reign coach Laura Harvey said in a statement. “I’d like to thank Arsenal for helping make this happen. This is a unique opportunity for us and one that we felt could be a huge impact on our squad in a crazy summer schedule. Kim’s ability and experience will be crucial for us to help continue to push our performances forward and help continue the growth of our young squad.”

OL Reign sits in third in the NWSL standings with a 2-3-1 record to start the season.

Vivianne Miedema officially has re-signed with Arsenal, the Women’s Super League club announced Friday. The news of the one-year deal first was reported by The Athletic last week.

Miedema previously had expressed uncertainty about her future with the club.

She was adamant about her desire to win the Champions League, and she said she wanted to spend her future “at a club that best suits my ambitions.” Arsenal was knocked out of this year’s Champions League tournament in the quarterfinals by VfL Wolfsburg.

The forward had been linked to both Paris Saint-Germain and reigning UEFA Women’s Champions League title holder Barcelona.

In an interview on Arsenal’s website, the 25-year-old said that the decision to return “feels right, right now.”

“I had to follow my heart and I’m happy to be part of the team next year,” she said. “With Jonas [Eidvall] coming in things have changed and we are going in the right direction. As I said before, I want to win titles and I would love to win them with Arsenal.

“I feel like for me, winning titles with Arsenal will mean a lot more to me than winning them with another club at the moment.”

Arsenal signed Miedema in 2017 from Bayern Munich. Since then, she’s been a dominant force for the Gunners and has broken multiple WSL records. The top scorer in league history, she is the only player to ever score against every team she has faced in the league.

She’s won the Golden Boot twice and finished second behind Sam Kerr the past two seasons.

“Viv is a stellar talent and a hugely important player for this team, so it’s fantastic news that she is staying with us,” said Eidvall, the team’s manager. “As a club, our ambition is to win titles and compete at the highest level – we know Viv’s own ambitions are the same, and together we will give everything to achieve that.”