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On Monday, two days before their Allianz Arena game against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Arsenal announced the devastating news that their centre-back Katie Reid had sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The 19-year-old, who was pulled forward to lift the Champions League trophy in front of fans by the captain Leah Williamson at Arsenalâ€s Emirates Stadium celebration in May, had a meteoric rise at the start to the season, partnering Steph Catley in place of the injured Williamson, starting many games ahead of the World Cup winner Laia Codina and double European Championship winner Lotte Wubben-Moy.

“Itâ€s always horrible, especially for her,†the manager, Renée Slegers, said. “She started the season so well for us. With her age, how mature she has been, how sheâ€s been in the group and how she has grown every single day, it is very disappointing for her. Itâ€s very hard. Sheâ€s been with us in the last couple of days and surgery is planned. She will move forward from there. She said she will use this time to grow as a footballer, which says everything about Katie.â€

Reid is the third Arsenal player to be sidelined with the long‑term knee injury this season. The goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger ruptured her ACL in training between Arsenalâ€s opening Champions League fixtures against Lyon and Benfica last month, and on 30 October it was announced that the forward Michelle Agyemang, who was on loan at Brighton, had sustained the brutal knee injury, having been taken off on a stretcher during Englandâ€s 3-0 defeat of Australia in Derby.

The prevalence of ACL injuries in womenâ€s football is not new and is far from being an Arsenal problem. Liverpool similarly have three out with ACL injuries, Marie Höbinger and Sophie Román Haug both sustaining ACL injuries in October, joining the 18-year-old midfielder Zara Shaw who sustained the same injury in April. Chelsea (Kadeisha Buchanan and Brooke Aspin), Everton (Megan Finnigan and Aurora Galli), Manchester City (Mary Fowler and Mayzee Davies) and Tottenham (Ella Morris and Maite Oroz) all have two out apiece. Brighton have lost Agyemang, who has returned to her parent club Arsenal for treatment and rehab, but are also without Manuela Vanegas. Aston Villaâ€s Jill Baijings joined the ACL club at the end of September.

Michelle Agyemang faces a lengthy spell out injured after her knee injury during Englandâ€s match against Australia. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters

It would be wrong to sound fresh alarm bells or talk of an epidemic of ACL injuries in womenâ€s football. The reality is that womenâ€s football has been blighted by ACL issues for a long time. Arsenalâ€s opponents on Wednesday, Bayern Munich, are no strangers to just how devastating the injury can be, with the Germany midfielder Lena Oberdorf sustaining her second ACL injury on 20 October, having made just eight appearances following her return from her previous ACL injury two months before. Oberdorfâ€s tear came one month after fellow midfielder Sarah Zadrazil endured the same fate.

“The starting point is about as much awareness as possible on how we can prevent these injuries and I think everyone agrees with that,†said Slegers, who called time on her own playing career after an ACL injury. “I know the club is prominent in these processes on a wider scale.

“Itâ€s hard because itâ€s one little moment and youâ€re out for nine to 12 months and it impacts a playerâ€s career. We need to keep on doing research because the game is growing and changing so fast and we need to move with that change.â€

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The goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar said: “Obviously the schedule gets busier, clubs and nations are asking more and more of us, and thereâ€s probably somewhere a way of reducing the risk and I hope for everyone that we can find that.â€

The comments of Slegers and Van Domselaar came after the Chelsea midfielder Keira Walsh spoke on the issue following Reidâ€s injury before Chelseaâ€s match against St Pölten. Walsh said that those “higher up do need to listen to what weâ€re saying as players†on the issue of overloading and underloading, with many feeling match scheduling does not take a holistic enough approach.

On Wednesday night, Arsenal and Bayern will be weaker because of their absentees. For Arsenal, the loss of Reid and Zinsberger for the long term, added to their short-term losses, is placated by a squad depth that means a strong starting XI can still be fielded. The problem, though, is that with the number of games mounting and fewer options to rotate the risk of further injury only increases.

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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen will be down another arm entering Game 4 against the Philadelphia Phillies, as former closer Tanner Scott was removed from the active roster.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Scott had undergone an abscess excision somewhere on his lower body on Wednesday night, describing it as urgent matter but not ruling out a return should the Dodgers reach the World Series.

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“As I understand it, it was an abscess excision, some type of lower-body minor procedure,” Roberts said. “I don’t know a whole lot about it, to be quite honest with you, but I do know he’s recovering well and it took place last night.

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Left-hander Justin Wrobleski will replace Scott on the active roster. MLB rules mean Scott will now be ineligible for the NLCS if the Dodgers are able to put the Phillies away in either of the next two games.

Roberts had previously alluded to Scott having an issue after Wednesday’s Game 3 loss, saying it was something “personal” and that the southpaw was “completely unavailable.”

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If this is the end of Scott’s season, 2025 will be cemented as a profoundly disappointing first year with the Dodgers for him. Scott was the team’s second-most expensive addition last offseason at four years and $72 million, money spent with the hope that he could be a shutdown reliever for a team already stacked in other areas.

Instead, Scott performed below replacement level in a campaign that both started and ended badly. He hit the injured list in July with elbow inflammation and posted a 6.92 ERA in the second half, with the Dodgers continuing to use him in save situations.

Clearly, the club believed Scott’s stuff would eventually come around and he would become the pitcher that had Shohei Ohtani in knots during last year’s postseason, when he was with the San Diego Padres. That time never came, and he went completely unused in the Dodgers’ first five games of the 2025 playoffs.

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Barring some sort of salary dump, Scott will be back for the Dodgers next year, though, with plenty to work on.

Tanner Scott’s 2025 season might already be over. It was one to forget. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

(Chris Coduto via Getty Images)

Scott’s struggles have been a major part of the Dodger bullpen’s woes over the past month, which the team seems no closer to fixing. The one bright side is the emergence of previously hyped rookie Roki Sasaki as a late-inning arm, but nearly every other reliever used this postseason has seen at least one ugly inning already.

That continued in Game 3, when Clayton Kershaw — coming out of the bullpen in his final MLB postseason — allowed a 3-1 lead to balloon into 8-1, which could have a significant repercussion for the Dodgers in Game 4.

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