Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hope Powell will be taking nothing for granted when her side travel to The Chigwell Construction Stadium to face West Ham United on Sunday.
Albion come up against a West Ham United side in Dagenham who have collected less points than The Seagulls this season while The Hammers have the second-worst defensive record in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.
Despite Matt Beard’s side having not started the season as well as they would have hoped, Brighton & Hove Albion boss Powell is taking nothing for granted this weekend, particularly in terms of the league table.
“It is another important game” said Powell when speaking in Brighton & Hove Albion’s pre-match press conference. “We know that it is going to be another tough challenge.
“Historically, these matches have proved to be quite close, very physical and despite where they sit in the table, they are still a very good team.”
Brighton & Hove Albion slipped to a surprise 2-0 home defeat to newly-promoted Aston Villa last weekend. The preparation leading up to that match was far from ideal for The Seagulls with a positive COVID-19 test having been recorded by one of the staff, leading to others being made to self-isolate. Powell believes that her side will be better prepared for the trip to East London this weekend.
She commented on the situation by saying “The week we had and the lack of preparation time did not help us.
“Credit to Aston Villa, they did enough to win the game and we clearly didn’t.
“This week, the preparation will certainly be better than it was last week and it will give us a better chance of performing well.”
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United comes on the second Women’s Football Weekend and Powell spoke positively about the initiative.
She added “Any initiative to get more females involved and more people attending games has got to be a great initiative.
“Hopefully, that will continue for many more years to come.”
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United is scheduled to kick-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon and will be available to stream live on the FA Player.
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