Chloe Kelly suffers injury setback. Arsenal star faces frustrating halt to WSL campaign. Arsenal winger Chloe Kelly had highly anticipated permanent return to the club has hit an early setback, as the England international suffers an injury that forced her out of the squad for the Women’s Super League (WSL) match against West Ham United. This development comes just weeks after Kelly made her permanent move from Manchester City. This followed a successful loan spell at Arsenal last season.
Early Promise Cut Short
Kelly started the 2025/26 WSL season with a bang. She scored in an opening day 4-1 rout of London City Lionesses, who newly got promotion from the Championship. This was reminiscent of her performance including two goals and five assists in 13 appearances from her loan spell. Thich lead to a title winning UEFA Women’s Champions League victory for Arsenal. Unfortunately, there would be no momentum given a “slight knock” ruled her out of the West Ham game.
Emotional Journey and Resilience
While this injury is not the first challenge in Kelly’s career, she has faced some highs and lows. In previous interviews, Kelly shared she had “found herself in a dark place” before joining on loan to Arsenal. In fact, had “considered taking a break from football”. Once she joined Arsenal under manager Renee Slegers the experience helped her find joy in football again. She even mentioned Arsenal was a place she “found happiness”. Kelly’s permanent signing in August 2025 was a real party, it felt like a homecoming, and she stated she was seeking some further success at the club.
Impact on Arsenal’s Campaign
Kelly is a huge loss for Arsenal who depend on her attacking creativity and lightning pace. For the West Ham game, Slegers was able to replace Kelly with experience from Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord as attackers, with Frida Maanum playing the role of No. 10. Kelly’s permanent signing in August 2025 was a real party, it felt like a homecoming, and she stated she was seeking some further success at the club.
Chloe Kelly subbed on, Assist England first Goal and nutmeg the defender for the 2nd, all in 3 minutes
She just signed permanently for Arsenal pic.twitter.com/LnaduaIvge
— UpYourArsenal🔴⚪🔴⚪♥️ (@UPYOURARSENAL04) July 17, 2025
Looking Ahead
We do not know for sure timelines on Kelly’s return. Her strength and determination suggest she will be back soon. Kelly has previously been in injury with an ACL injury that kept her out on the sideline for over a year. We know she can recover and be back even better than before! Arsenal supporters will be hopeing for a quick recovery because she will play a massive role for Arsenal and both the league and Champions League ambitions.
Currently, Kelly’s injury represents an aggravating disruption to what was supposedly a career year for the star forward. Arsenal will have to find this discipline and resilience to continue its title aspirations as it tries to cope without its star player.