West Ham United will return to Barclays Women’s Super League action this weekend, as the Irons gear up to host Arsenal at Chigwell Construction Stadium. West Ham manager Rehanne Skinner spoke to the media ahead of her side’s test against the Gunners.
First providing an update on the fitness of her squad, Skinner confirmed there are no fresh injury concerns but Kristie Mewis will remain unavailable for the fixture.
‘Anyone can take points off anyone’ says Rehanne Skinner ahead of Arsenal test
West Ham United will face Arsenal this Sunday in what is sure to be a test for Skinner’s Irons side. Despite the reputation that follows a club like Arsenal, Skinner affirmed “Every game is an opportunity for a result. For me, I look at it in the sense that when we get the pieces of the puzzle right, we will compete with everyone in this league.”
Skinner continued, “All we can focus on is trying to make sure that we bring our best version of ourselves to the game, because we will need to, as they’re a top side with top players. But if we do that, and we do that right, then we’ll be competitive and we’ll make life difficult for them.”
West Ham defeated Arsenal for the first time in club history last season, as goals from Hawa Cissoko and Viviane Asseyi saw the Irons claim a 2-1 win over the Gunners in Dagenham. When asked whether last season’s victory provides her side with confidence heading into the clash, Skinner expressed “Of course, it gives belief and it gives confidence, but we know that the thing that has to happen is we have to be in the present on Sunday, and we have to make sure that we do our jobs diligently, because it’s not something that just because you’ve done it once, you’ve got to be able to do it again.”
“You have to earn it, and you have to work for it, and that’s every single week. We want to take the positives out of that result, and we know that we can, but we have to turn up and do the job at the weekend.”
Skinner says West Ham are adopting ‘a fearless attitude’
Skinner spoke in depth about the mindset that her side are trying to adopt since the turn of the season, describing it as a “fearless attitude.”
She elaborated, “We’re trying to keep evolving the mindset across the board with that fearless attitude that we have to just be prepared to play our way. When you go into these games, you have to be fearless. Otherwise you second guess yourself as a player.”
“I think that’s one of the things we’re trying to get away from and to just back ourselves and make a decision. The more consistent we can get with that, the better the performances will continue to move in that direction, and that’s what we’re aiming for this weekend. We want to keep improving on what we did against [Manchester] City and in the first half against Everton last week.”
West Ham United will host Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League this Sunday at Chigwell Construction Stadium. Proceedings will head underway at 15:00 BST and can be streamed live on YouTube.
