Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hope Powell says that the expectation is on Chelsea this weekend when the two sides meet at The People’s Pension Stadium in their latest Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture.
Albion are the home team, playing in-front of their fans for the first time since February, while The Seagulls have already taken points from Manchester City and Everton so far this season.
Despite both home advantage and their good record against top opposition, manager Powell believes that all of the expectancy is on Barclays FA Women’s Super League champions Chelsea this weekend as Emma Hayes’ side look to continue their good start to the season.
“The expectation is clearly for Chelsea to win” said Powell when speaking in her pre-match press conference in which FA Women’s Super League Full-Time were present. “We are under no illusions on what we are up against, you only have to look at their recent signings and the calibre of their players.
“That being said, you look at some of our recent performances against Manchester City and Everton, we have done well and can take heart from that.
“It will be whoever performs best on the day. If you look at last season, we drew with them 1-1 so we have that experience of playing against those big teams and doing well and surprising some people.”
Brighton & Hove Albion were just five minutes away from defeating Chelsea at The People’s Pension Stadium last season with Adelina Engman netting the equaliser for The Blues in the first of six minutes added on at the end of the second half. With both squads having changed since that game, Albion boss Powell believes that you can’t take too much from that result as the two sides prepare to meet again 15 months on.
She added “Both squads have changed quite a bit. We take heart from the fact that we took a point off them but more importantly, we take heart from the fact that we took a point from Manchester City and Everton.
“We have to focus on our own ability and the fact that if we compete, there is no reason why we won’t do well.
“The history is great, we have got that in our locker, but we have to be mindful that their squad has changed.”
Up to 1,250 home fans could return to The People’s Pension Stadium on Sunday and Powell believes that the crowd could certainly give her side a boost and help level things up a bit.
“I’m delighted for the fans and hopefully, it will give us a real boost given who we are up against” said Powell. “It is really good that we will see fans back in the stadium cheering on the players.
“In recent times at Crawley, the fans have been really influential in driving our girls on and I know that our girls enjoy playing at home in-front of family and friends so hopefully, that will help us on Sunday.”
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Chelsea will kick-off at 2pm on Sunday afternoon and will be available to stream live on the FA Player. Home fans can buy their tickets to the match until midday on matchday.