Hayes aims dig at Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall over 'dry pitch' claim

Emma Hayes aims dig at Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall for blaming a ‘dry’ pitch for England star Keira Walsh’s knee injury, as the Chelsea boss calls for more expertise to minimise risks

• Walsh was stretchered off during England win over Denmark at the World Cup
• Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall claimed that the pitch was ‘too dry’ in Sydney 
• Emma Hayes suggested the analysis was ‘lazy’ and has called for more expertise

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes has aimed a dig at Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall as she called for more expertise to help minimise risks for players following Keira Walsh’s knee injury at the Women’s World Cup.

Walsh was stretchered off during the first half of England’s game against Denmark last week, leaving the field after mouthing ‘I’ve done my knee’ on television to the team’s medical department.

The Barcelona midfielder has avoided suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury following a scan, but she will not be available to play in England’s final group game against China.

Speaking on the BBC, Eidevall had suggested Walsh’s injury may have been caused by the surface in Sydney, labelling the pitch as ‘too dry’.

‘The pitch looks very dry and you can see on the movement, when she slides with the right foot that it stops and she then twists her knee,’ Eidevall said.

England star Keira Walsh was forced off with a knee injury in the Women’s World Cup

Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall suggested a dry pitch may have contributed to Walsh’s injury

Emma Hayes suggested the analysis was ‘lazy’ with the Chelsea boss calling for more expertise

‘I think an example of that was the celebrations on the first goal that Lauren James scored. She tries to knee slide but you can see, when she does that you can see she just stops and falls over.’

Hayes, writing in the Telegraph, appeared to reference Eidevall’s comment by claiming it was ‘lazy’ to blame anterior cruciate ligament injuries on ‘playing too many games’ or ‘the pitch is too dry’.

The Chelsea boss also claimed national teams and clubs need to recognise warning signs in their players, as they seek to minimise the risks of ACL injuries.

Hayes suggested there is a lack of expertise in women’s sport and said clubs need to take a ‘multidisciplinary approach’ is needed to minimise injury risks.

‘You need to know what the red flags are and understand them, and not ignore them,’ Hayes wrote.

‘You have to track everything, and track the minutes players are playing, track how many games they’ve played per calendar year, track when they pick up their injury processes, spot the red flags, and it’s so multi-factorial that it requires high-level skilled multi-disciplinary teams to be able to solve that.

‘We’ve wanted to lead the way at Chelsea for this reason because we want people to invest in expertise in women’s fitness and women’s sport. So we have a women’s health coach. 

‘We have a pelvic floor coach. We have movement programmes designed to help the players deal with different phases of their period. It’s all individualised to each player and their body, and we believe in these things, wholeheartedly.’

Leah Williamson was among four Arsenal stars to suffer ACL injuries during a six-month period

Chelsea have also used Orreco’s FitrWoman app to monitor their players’ menstrual cycles in a bid to reduce their susceptibility to soft tissue injuries, including ACLs. 

Since 2018, only two Chelsea players have ruptured their ACL – Maren Mjelde and Lucy Watson, who was on loan at Charlton at the time.

Arsenal, however, have been badly hit with Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema and Laura Wienroither all suffering ACL injuries within a six month period last season.

Eidevall was critical of the pitch at Leigh Sports Village, where Williamson sustained the injury, but Mead and Vivianne Miedema both ruptured their ACL’s at the Emirates.

In October 2020, former Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro said the club were conducting a ‘massive’ internal review after seven first-team stars were sidelined by injury.

Eidevall has previously said Arsenal have a continual process of auditing injuries but admitted they also have to look inwards.

‘We as a club have to look at the factors that we can control and be as good as possible,’ Eidevall said. ‘We are not sticking our heads in the sand and just blaming all external factors. We have to look inside and first see what we can change and do that.’

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