Vivianne Miedema: Arsenal striker has 'no hopes' of playing at World Cup

Arsenal and Netherlands forward Vivianne Miedema says she has "no hopes" of being fit for the 2023 Women's World Cup.

The 26-year-old had surgery in December after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament in a Champions League group-stage match with Lyon.

The World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand from July.

Asked about her chances of recovering in time for the tournament Miedema told BBC Two: "No hopes."

"I'm going to miss the World Cup, which is hard," she added. "But I hope to be back ready for the start of next season. I need to be realistic.

"Recovery is going really well. It's slow but little steps."

England's Beth Mead, Miedema's partner and fellow Arsenal forward, is also recovering from a ruptured ACL, sustained in November.

Miedema said Mead was "a bit in front of me" with her recovery, but that she faced a struggle to recover in time to make Sarina Wiegman's World Cup squad.

"I think you heard what Sarina said last week; there needs to be a bit of a miracle for her to be fit for the World Cup," said Miedema at half-time of Arsenal's 2-1 Women's Super League win over Manchester City.

"It's frustrating for me because I'm a month behind, so I see her doing a lot of things and I'm not there yet."

Arsenal came from behind to beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday

'We need to push' to use bigger stadiums

Miedema watched her Arsenal team-mates beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.

The Gunners were watched by 21,307, a record for an English team in the competition.

Meadow Park in Borehamwood, their usual ground, holds fewer than 5,000 supporters.

"We're one of the examples that as a club we're doing it well," Miedema said. "We play a lot of games [at Emirates Stadium], we get a lot of people in. I've seen that West Ham have not played at their stadium yet this year.

"I think we need to push for that, I think we deserve that. We also say 'the men's stadium' but in the end it's the club's stadium and I think we should use that.

"We should all push for that - all clubs should push for that, and once we get there we'll get more people in."

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