Chelsea Women will be looking to take home three points today as they make the trip to Bristol City and ahead of the match Sophie Ingle has spoken about what her team need to do to get the win...
The Blues go into the game after a 2-0 victory against West Ham in the Continental Tyres Cup and with four points from two Barclays Women's Super League games.
‘The first half was a bit back and forth, Ingle said about last Sunday’s match. ‘We probably did have a bit more possession than them but no clear cut chances.
‘Second half we came out real strong and Beth got quite an early goal and I think that made us win the game in the end because we had a few more chances. Guro then got the second which secured the win.’
Emma Hayes’ side have scored two and conceded one so far in our 2019/20 WSL campaign, and although scoring goals are vital, Ingle stressed the importance of keeping clean sheets too.
‘Obviously as a defensive minded player I like to keep clean sheets, but as a whole I think we need to be better in the final third and we’ve worked on that a lot over the last two to three weeks so that’s important for us. Like I said it is important to keep clean sheets because we’re going to pick up points as long as we can nick a goal or two then we’re get the three points.’
The standard and level of professionalism has improved significantly within the women’s top tier with all 12 teams now being full-time outfits. Results in the WSL have been finishing with much closer score lines than ever before, but Ingle insists Chelsea will continue to play their way.
‘I think there is pressure in every game, especially now this season you can tell the league has got a lot better.
‘The teams are all improving and I think every game is just as important as the last. It doesn’t matter who you play against, whether they are top of the league or bottom, it’s quite a close league at the minute.
‘I don’t think we’re going to try and change the way we play, we try and stick to our philosophy. But depending on who we are going to come up against and now teams are getting a bit better overall, we have to slightly adapt things during games and sometimes at half-time. We may end up tweaking a few more things than we would have last season,’ she said.
The Welsh international, who moved from the Blues to play for Bristol in 2014, pointed out what she expects from the opposition today and reminisced about her two years as a Vixen.
‘I think Bristol will be hard-working, they will probably go into a mid-block and try to limit our space, but on a counter-attack they have fast players going forward and that’s what they play upon.
‘We’ve got the strength and character throughout the squad to deal with that. We need to be patient, we need to try and move their block with late runs going into the box and limit our touches as I think that will be important. We’ll make sure that we work smartly to get those three points on the board.
‘I really enjoyed my time at Bristol, it developed me a lot as a youngster. We played Champions League football as well at the time which was huge for the club.
‘Bristol is really close to Wales so some of my family and friends are going to come and watch – I’m really looking forward to that!,’ she added.
Today's game kicks-off at 3pm. Details of how to follow are here
There is an international break for a number of Blues after today’s encounter. However, Chelsea return to domestic action on Sunday 13 October against Arsenal at Kingsmeadow, with a 3pm kick-off. The visit from the reigning Women’s Super League champions is a match not to be missed!
Tickets for the London derby against Arsenal are priced at £9 for adults and £1 for junior (aged under 20) and senior fans (aged 65 or over).