Watford Women star Lois Edwards has admitted it’s “mentally challenging” to have ruptured her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) for the second time in four years.
Edwards, 20, suffered the injury in a warm-up for Gillingham Women after joining the Women’s National League side on a short-term loan deal in October.
Edwards was previously sidelined for nine months after rupturing her ACL during her spell in the Chelsea academy. She spent time recovering at the Cobham training facility with injured first-team stars Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi, but won’t have the same luxury this time around.
She told Park Life Sport: “It’s tough, and I think it’s almost worse knowing what’s to come. When I injured it at Chelsea it was at the end of the season, so I had all pre-season to work with the physios, whereas this time I’m going to have to do a lot more of the rehab on my own.
“Mentally it’s challenging because it’s such a long time away from the pitch, but it’s an opportunity to improve on other aspects of my game and in the gym so it’s not all bad,” she added.
The 20-year-old left Chelsea in 2020 after her first ACL injury, training with Birmingham City Women before leaving to join Loyola Maryland’s Women’s Soccer Team on a scholarship in America in 2021.
She returned to England just a year later as she felt “America was almost a step backwards”, and joined Crawley Wasps before signing for Watford Women ahead of the 2022/23 season.

Despite the disappointment, Edwards remains optimistic about the situation. She joked: “At least I’ll have two really strong knees after this because they are normally a lot stronger afterwards as they put extra supports in your knee!”
An exact return date hasn’t been specified, but Edwards hopes to return in October 2023.