It is a rapid turnaround of big games for Chelsea Women as we look to put last weekend’s WSL setback behind us today at Aston Villa, hard on the heels of a massive success in the Champions League on Thursday night.
Emma Hayes’ side lost for only the second time this season at Manchester City in the last league outing but the players put that behind them with the penalty shoot-out defeat of European champions Lyon. The manager highlights one benefit that we will have going into the latest challenge this evening in the West Midlands but the last thing she wants is for her players to dwell on the European achievement to the detriment of the domestic campaign.
‘There is no doubt that Thursday was a brilliant night but there is still a long way to go in the competition,’ Hayes points out. ‘The best way to process the emotions from the night is to can them, you’ve got to put them in the bin as quickly as possible.
‘If you want to compete on all fronts this mentality must be a daily process, not just for Champions League nights. We have to do this every week, we do this every week, so all our focus is on Aston Villa.
‘I don’t think it’s difficult to get people refocused, for me it’s about getting refreshed,’ she adds.
‘There just isn’t a lot of time and back-to-back games makes winning a league for teams that are in the Champions League so much more challenging. The number of games we’ve played in this block compared to Aston Villa means they get the luxury of a full week’s training. We must use the confidence from the way we clawed the Champions League game back as a massive motivation.’
Villa began the weekend in fifth place in the WSL table and won their previous four games in all competitions. Chelsea beat them 3-1 at Kingsmeadow back in October but will have players missing through injury going into this latest encounter.
‘It’s a quick turnaround but we are used to it,’ says Hayes. ‘We know we are going to be extremely thin and that every player has to step up in a monumental way.
‘Aston Villa are in great form, they’re playing on a really difficult pitch and they’ll really fancy their chances against us. It’s important for us to use the confidence from what we overcame and that must serve as a motivation to the team to keep pushing us at a high level.’
The game kicks off at 6.45pm and can be viewed live on Sky Sports.