Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes insists her team are in good shape and raring to go ahead of this weekend’s crucial clash with Manchester City at Kingsmeadow on Sunday.
Chelsea Women are unbeaten in all competitions this season and are on a nine-game winning streak, a run that began after our 1-1 draw against Brighton and Hove Albion on 15 September.It could have been 10 wins on the bounce last Sunday, only for our game with Everton to be postponed due to a frozen pitch, but despite the wasted trip up north, the Chelsea boss feels there are positives to take from the frustrating situation.‘We look at it another way and say we have got in an extra training opportunity this week which we’ve taken,’ she said.‘The team look sharp and it allows us to recover to be honest, there is no down side, we will just have to play them [Everton] later on in the season.‘At the end of the day, if you win every game in the season, you win the league. For us it’s just making sure we take one game at a time and it just means that we’re going to be in the chasing positions and that’s something we can do.’
Chelsea and Manchester City Women have faced off 17 times in their history, with the Blues recording four wins to City’s nine and four matches ending all square.
Four of those meetings came last year, with both league games ending all square and City edging our two semi-final meetings in the domestic cup competitions.
Hayes believes it will be another close encounter and expects the small details to make the difference come full time.
‘We prepare professionally depending on whether we have a lot of games or we don’t, we know going into the game at the weekend we’re playing against an opponent we know very well.
‘We’re at home but there is not much to separate the two teams and it’s absolutely crucial that we start to make the margins and the differences count.
‘My demand for the players is that we have got to put into practice the hard work that we put in on the training pitch.
‘But I make sure that the group and everybody stays present game to game and that we take it one step at a time.'
The Chelsea manager also spoke highly of Blues’ loyal fans who turn up in numbers to all home and away games and with our last league game against Manchester United a sell-out, Hayes is hoping for the same on Sunday.
‘Our fans have proven to be such a massive difference to the performance levels especially at home. We often talk about the noise and the presence throughout the games and that’s been increasing with every game we play so we know how crucial they are to our performances.
‘The attendances this season at our home stadium have been so impressive and it’s fair to say that all of us would love to see Kingsmeadow sold out every weekend because the atmosphere brings such a buzz to the players.’
Limited tickets remain for the game on Sunday, to ensure you don’t miss out, book your tickets now! They are priced at £9 for adults and just £1 for juniors (under 20s) and seniors (65 and over).