Arsenal’s Little ruled out for season with hamstring injury

Little sustained the injury in the Champions League win over Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium coming off for Lotte Wubben-Moy early in the second leg with Leah Williamson taking the captain’s armband.

Williamson is now likely to move into that midfield role in the absence of the former Scottish international.

A club statement read: “We can confirm that Kim Little will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.

“Kim sustained the injury in our UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final win over Bayern Munich on March 29 and tests have subsequently confirmed the injury will keep her sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.

“Our captain has already begun her rehabilitation and this process is progressing well. We expect her to be available for the start of preparations for the 2023/24 season.

“Our medical team will support Kim closely over the coming months and we look forward to see her back on the field of play soon.”

Little has been instrumental for the Gunners once again this season and was a key figure in their Continental Cup win against Chelsea last month with a player of the match performance.

After a midweek trip to leaders Manchester United, Arsenal visit VFL Wolfsburg in the Champions League semi-final on Sunday (2.30pm).

Their game with Leicester City has been rearranged for Friday May 5 (7pm) and their trip to Everton is now on May 17 (6.15pm), with both live on Sky Sports.

*Leah Williamson was named Arsenal’s player of the month for March, ahead of Caitlin Foord and Stina Blackstenius, after helping the Gunners to three clean sheets in six games.

Williamson showed her attacking sense, with two assists and her first goal of the season against Reading.

One of her assists was a beautiful backheel pass for Frida Maanum to set the Gunners on their way to a comeback win against Bayern and Williamson is the sixth different player to receive the Player of the Month accolade this season.

Rafaelle Souza, Vivianne Miedema, Laura Wienroither and Beth Mead have each been voted the top performer once so far and Maanum has come top twice – in October and January.

Arsenal have announced they have already sold 40,000 tickets for the Champions League semi-final second leg with Wolfsburg at Emirates Stadium on Monday May 1.