England captain Leah Williamson has said that "something needs to give" in order to protect players after Arsenal teammate Vivianne Miedema became the latest star to fall victim to a serious injury.
Williamson was speaking to the media ahead of the Gunners' UEFA Women's Champions League clash with Zurich and was asked whether she backed calls from Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman to introduce an extended winter break in order to allow players to rest and recuperate.
The defender has been plagued with her own injury woes this season, having been sidelined for more than a month after picking up a foot injury in training. While Williamson has now returned to action, the past few weeks have seen Arsenal lose both Miedema and fellow attacker Beth Mead to ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments, and the 25-year-old agrees more needs to be done to look after player welfare.
“I don’t know where those breaks come in or where the fixtures come second to player welfare but I am in favour of (an extended winter break)," Williamson said. "I think you’ve seen a lot of injuries to a lot of different players across the women’s game and I think even on the men’s side the schedule is just getting crazier and crazier.
"At some point, if you want to protect the game and protect the players - there is no game without them - then I do think that something needs to give somewhere. I don’t know. It’s not my job to pick where or when those breaks are.”
Williamson was speaking from the Wefox Arena, where Arsenal will take on Zurich in a bid to finish top of Group C on Wednesday evening. The Gunners are already through to the Champions League knock-out stages but spurned an opportunity to seal top spot when they fell to a 1-0 defeat against reigning champions Lyon last week.
The French side are level with Arsenal on 10 points ahead of their final group game with Juventus, however the Gunners' superior goal difference and head-to-head record with Lyon means they'll likely finish as group winners with a victory over Zurich.
Jonas Eidevall's side beat the Swiss champions 3-1 in the reverse fixture at the Emirates in October, and Williamson is hoping for a similar result on Wednesday night.
“The work that we’ve put in so far, the way the girls have played has been incredible, so to top the group with this win would be great," she said.
"I think any team we come up against in the next round is going to be a tough one whether you come out of the group first or second but naturally you want to give yourself every advantage in sport. You play every game to win.”
Reflecting on the squad's desire to bounce back from last week's defeat, the England skipper added: "I think after something like (Miedema's injury) happens in a game it does turn a little bit flat as well and that’s how we felt when we came off but ultimately we played some good football.
"It was an interesting game and we just got straight back on to the training pitch. Everyone’s been recovering and ready to go again the same as we would with any other game except this one is important for us to win.
"You saw the way we bounced back after the defeat to Man United in the league, it’s the same in this competition as well."
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