Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hope Powell says that her side must look to retain the ball better when they travel to Meadow Park to face Arsenal on Thursday evening.
The Seagulls ended a six-match losing run with a goalless draw against Barclays FA Women’s Super League champions Chelsea last time out but the Sussex club completed just 57% of their passes in that game and had 32% of the ball.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of the Arsenal game, Powell said that her side must look to be better with the ball.
“We are going to have to be (resolute), we know that we won’t have a lot of the ball,” Powell said. “They are a very good side with good depth and the players that they have at their disposal, any club would like them in their starting XI. We know that it is going to be very tough.
“We know that we will have to be organised and perhaps the unforced errors and the retention of the ball we have to do better, we know this. We’ve played them enough times now to know what they are about and we try and match it the best that we can. Hopefully, on the day we will have some luck, good performances and you never know.”
Arsenal are winless in four games in all competitions and while The Gunners are in a difficult period, Powell acknowledges that they have a point to prove.
She said “We have to be on it tomorrow night and hope that Arsenal have a stinker really. They will have a point to prove and by their standards, they’ve had a bad run and they’ll want to do everything that they can to make it better. They’ve made some new signings, they’ve got good depth and they are still top of the league. They will want to maintain that distance between themselves and the teams who are chasing.
“It is going to be tough and it would be tough before all of that, if they were 10 points clear it’d still be tough. We just really have to focus on the things which we pride ourselves on which certainly being in this game is being hard to beat. If everybody plays their part, you give yourselves the best chance.”
The Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture between Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion kicks-off at 7.30pm on Thursday evening. Tickets for the match remain available and can be purchased by clicking here.
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