Arsenal's Mariona Caldentey ruled out for up to 10 weeks with hamstring injury

Spain star faces lengthy spell on the sidelines

Arsenal midfielder Mariona Caldentey is set to miss around two months of Women's Super League football after sustaining a hamstring injury in the Gunners' 4-2 defeat at Manchester City on 4 October.

The 2024-25 WSL Player of the Year, who joined Arsenal from Barcelona two years ago, has been a central figure for the north London club since her arrival and was part of the Spain squad that won the 2023 Women's World Cup. Her absence represents a significant blow to a side already under pressure.

"Mariona [Caldentey] went off against Manchester City and didn't go away with Spain. It's a hamstring injury so she will be out for a while," said Arsenal manager Renee Slegers.

"It's a bigger hamstring injury. The estimation right now is between eight to 10 weeks. We'll see. We're re-scanning and the healing process looks good. Of course, we're hoping for less [time out], but it's a bigger hamstring injury."

Further injury woes for Slegers' side

Caldentey's lay-off compounds an already stretched squad. The Gunners return to WSL action on Saturday when they host Birmingham City (12:45 BST), but they will also be without England forward Chloe Kelly and German summer signing Selina Cerci.

Slegers confirmed Cerci has undergone knee surgery after a problem that had been troubling the forward worsened.

"Selina had surgery on her knee. She had been struggling and it got worse, so we had to intervene unfortunately," Slegers said. "She's out as well for a while. It's one of the reasons why it was harder for Selina to get into the team because she missed some parts of pre-season.

"She has been available and has trained the majority of sessions, but of course it affects the player when you're managing something. Germany did a scan and the best solution going forward was to clean [the knee] up with surgery."

Pressure mounting on the champions' rivals

Arsenal have made a disappointing start to their campaign, winning just one of their opening five WSL matches and sitting 10th in the table. The run of form has led to questions over Slegers' position as the club look to arrest the slide without their most influential midfielder.