With nine WSL games and four Champions League outings on the board, only four players in the Gunners’ squad have accrued fewer minutes across all competitions than Kelly, who has started just three times since the season kicked-off in early September. Given she not only shone for England in the summer, but also made her move to Arsenal permanent off the back of an exciting loan spell in the first half of 2025, it’s certainly not been what most expected.
In just a few weeks, Kelly will head to the ceremony for the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award as the second-favourite to win, only marginally behind golfer Rory McIlroy, who completed the career grand slam earlier this year by triumphing at the Masters in dramatic fashion. But as her impact at Euro 2025 continues to be celebrated, can Kelly find the magic needed to spark her season into life?
It’s been a weird start to this season for Kelly. The 27-year-old started Arsenal’s first game of the season, against London City Lionesses, missed the next outing at West Ham due to a knock and would sport visible strapping on her right knee from there on out, up until early November, as she clearly nursed some sort of issue.
Yet, the West Ham game would be the only one she’d miss, with a start against European giants Lyon even coming in early October despite Kelly not looking fully fit at times. Indeed, in that clash with the French champions, the England winger struggled massively to get involved in attack and didn’t help out enough in defence before being withdrawn before the hour. Until Arsenal’s final game before this international break, the rest of her appearances for the club so far this term have come as a substitute.
While it’s easy to say that Renee Slegers, the Arsenal boss, could’ve maybe just coped without Kelly for a few weeks while she got over the issue plaguing her, the player is always going to want to play, especially given the increased competition for places in the Gunners’ wide areas this season following Olivia Smith’s record-breaking arrival from Liverpool.
Plus, despite not being at 100 per cent, Kelly has still provided some special moments. She was on the scoresheet against former club Manchester City in early October, albeit in an eventual 3-2 defeat, and has reminded everyone of the wonderful service she can provide in the Champions League. Her quick-thinking assist for Alessia Russo in the win over Benfica was brilliant while it was her wicked cross that the England No.9 tucked away to level the scores on Arsenal’s way to victory over Real Madrid just recently.
Fortunately, that period of managing an injury seems to be behind Kelly now. Asked about the winger when she was called up by England for this ongoing camp, Slegers clarified the situation with regards to her fitness. “She missed the West Ham game and a couple of training sessions but since then she’s been building back, and some things take a little bit longer than others, but she’s fully fit,” she explained.
That was underlined by Slegers’ team selection just before the international break, as she handed Kelly just her third start of the season against Real Madrid. The winger justified her inclusion in the XI, too. After having a significant impact in the clash with Las Blancas in last year’s Champions League quarter-final, playing a key role in the Gunners’ historic comeback win, Kelly was effective again in this rematch, delivering that great cross for Russo to head home and get the European champions back into things.
It was the highlight of a performance in which Kelly, free of that strapping on her knee, generally looked back to full fitness and sharpness, too, standing out as one of Arsenal’s best players on the night.
It feels like Kelly’s season can really start now then. After all, we’re talking about a player who lit up Euro 2025 despite not starting any of England’s six games, sparking the Lionesses’ into life right when they needed it. It was Kelly’s brilliant delivery that allowed Lucy Bronze to get England back into a quarter-final they seemed well out of, it was her goal that defeated Italy in the next round and sent the Lionesses through to the final, and it was her spot-kick that defeated Spain to win the trophy. She didn’t do it all alone, of course, but she played a massive role.
That quality was on show for Arsenal in the second half of last season, too. Having secured a loan move to north London, freeing her from a situation at Manchester City where she was totally out of favour, Kelly starred as the Gunners enjoyed much-improved form under Slegers and won the Champions League. There’s no doubting her status as one of the best wingers in England, and Europe, when she is fit and firing. Now that she is getting back to the latter, she can show that.
England’s win over China on Saturday, by a record-breaking 8-0 scoreline, felt like a timely reminder of the need for Kelly to deliver, too, as the Lionesses enter a new cycle that features the 2027 Women’s World Cup. As Beth Mead lit up Wembley Stadium with a quickfire brace, Lauren Hemp scored on her return from injury and Jess Park entered the game as a lively winger, following a positional change at Manchester United, the Lionesses’ competition for places in the wide areas was underlined. This was also all without Lauren James, who made her first appearance of the season for Chelsea last month after overcoming a foot problem.
Kelly has similar competition at Arsenal as well, where she can count Mead, Smith and Australia forward Caitlin Foord as team-mates, as well as the versatile Mariona Caldentey. In order to get minutes for club and country, and assert herself as a key player for both, Kelly has to show that ability which has made her so talismanic so regularly. If not, there are others that can.
Having seemingly overcome the issue that hampered her in the first few months of the season, Kelly should get those opportunities to remind everyone what she can do in the latter stages of this year. Between the WSL, Champions League and the knockout stages of the League Cup beginning, Arsenal have plenty of games before the winter break, and Kelly’s return to full sharpness could be exactly what they need to get out of the funk they find themselves in, having won just one of their last four games.
Sarina Wiegman, meanwhile, may look at Tuesday’s clash with Ghana as a chance to help reignite the player who was so crucial to success at Euro 2025. World Cup qualifying will begin in the New Year and the Lionesses have a tough assignment, needing to pip Spain to top spot in their group to secure automatic qualification for the tournament in Brazil.
Achieving as much will be made easier if England can turn to an in-form Kelly, a player who has delivered game-changing and title-winning moments aplenty in her career to date. But to get to that point, she needs to start racking up the game time again. She’ll hope that starts on Tuesday and only continues through to the end of a 2025 which has been monumental and, with the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award to be dished out just before Christmas, could well get even better yet.
