The pain of missing out on last year’s Women’s Super League championship on the final day of the season will be Chelsea’s driving force……
By Tony Leighton
… says head coach Emma Hayes, when they entertain Liverpool – the team that pipped them to the title – on Sunday in the league’s biggest game to date of the 2015 campaign.
Blues have made a flying start to the new season, winning each of their first two games to top the table as the only team with a 100 per cent record and with six goals – twice as many as any other side – to their name.
It won’t be attackers, however, but defenders who will decide the outcome of Sunday’s clash reckons Hayes. “Both teams have got proven goalscorers,” noted the Blues boss as she looked ahead to the big match, “but it will be the team that defends best that wins the game.
“Liverpool have regularly beaten us and they’ll obviously be aiming to keep that going, but we’re tougher and more resilient this season than we have been in the past and we’re proving much harder to break down.
“The pain of losing out to Liverpool right at the death last season is still with the girls, but that experience has helped the team to mature and it will certainly be a factor as we look to beat them and maintain our 100 per cent record.”
Opposite Hayes in the technical area will be Liverpool’s former Chelsea manager Matt Beard, who entered the new campaign with the aim of leading his team to a third successive WSL title but is already playing catch-up after a shock defeat in their first game to newly promoted Sunderland.
Image: tgsphoto.co.uk
A good win against last year’s third-placed club Birmingham City followed though, and despite the prospect of having a couple of key players missing through injury on Sunday Beard is in confident mood.
“We’ve done our homework on Chelsea,” said the Reds’ boss, “and although I’ve been really impressed with some of their play we know their weaknesses as well as their strengths and we’re going there believing we can get the result we want.
“But it’s going to be tough, we know that, and it will give us a good indication of where we’re at compared to the form team of the moment. They’ve started really well and showed why they’re one of the favourites to win the league this year.
“I’d say that any one of four teams could take the title this year and Chelsea are certainly one of them – but so are we, and we’ll be going down there on Sunday looking for a result to kick-start our season in style.”
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