England coach Sarina Wiegman believes Leah Williamson is ready to make her long-awaited return in Friday’s Euro 2025 qualifier against Sweden. (More Football News)
Williamson trained on her own on Tuesday after coming off at half-time of Arsenal’s Conti Cup final win over Chelsea on Sunday.
But she trained with the group on Wednesday and if she makes it through Thursday’s session unscathed she wil💝l be in contention to make her first international appearance in 12 months as the Lionesses begin their qualification campaign.
She has not featured for her country since suffering an ACL i𝕴njury last April, having pulled ou🧜t of a training squad in March with a hamstring strain.
“We need to manage it a little bit. She had a full traini༺ng session on Wednesday, she will be on the pitch today (Thursday), so that looks really good,” Wieg🌱man said.
“We know where she has come from, she is still building but she is in a good pla🌺ce and she is ready, if she c🐭omes through today OK.
“It’s just really good that she is back, first of all f൲or herself because she is so excited to come back, that means she is fit, it is good to have a quality player in the squad.
“We are in a good 🍎place already and now we are in an even better place.”
Williamson, who returned to club duty in January, captained the Lionesses to glory in Euro 2022 and Wiegman said s꧅he would resume her leadership duܫties if she was selected at Wembley.
“We have another training session. Leah is our team captain – that will not change, but we want to get through this trai🔥ning session first and then see what final decision we make tomorrow,” the Dutchwoman added.
“If she plays, she would be captain, we just want to get through the training session and see how she is and howཧ the team is. She needs that team environment from where🌸 she has come.”
Wiegman🏅 was asked for her opinion on Emma Hayes’ confrontation with Gunners counterpart Jonas Eidevall after t📖hat final at Molineux.
The Chelsea boss said after the game that male aggression was a problem in the w💫omen’s game, but༒ Wiegman did not bite.
“It was a great final, very competitive, so th🍸e emotion builds up,” she said.
“I haven’t been there in that situation s𓆉o I really don’t want to comment about that o🍷ne day before the most important game in a couple of months for us.”
