Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says that preparing for a ‘must-win’ game against Manchester United this afternoon is nothing new for her team.
The Blues take on The Red Devils at Kingsmeadow in their final game of the 2021/2022 Barclays FA Women’s Super League season. Chelsea go into the match needing to win to make absolutely sure that they are not beaten to the title by second-placed Arsenal.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Hayes said that preparing for a ‘must-win’ game is nothing new and that Chelsea will go into the fixture with the same mindset as every other big game that they have contested in recent weeks.
“We take everything in small daily chunks to build towards the game,” Hayes said. “I don’t think that this game has any different impact on us than the week before or the week before that because we’ve had to win every game.
“It is easy for us in our mindset knowing that we have to do that but you have to build towards it, you have to train and recover properly, you have to prepare your mindset and all of that energy can be spent on gameday. I think that’s what our squad do really well by managing that.”
Nearest challengers Arsenal are pushing for a first league title in three years and Hayes believes that their head coach Jonas Eidevall has done an excellent job in his first year in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.
Hayes said “I think that Jonas has been a brilliant addition to the league in terms of raising the standards for Arsenal and putting them in a front-running position to compete for the title.
“We want to go into the last day not only in a position to win a title but having to win a title, that’s what top competitors actually want they don’t want the easy wins, they want the tough rides. We want to be in a position against a team who I rate highly and respect the work that Marc (Skinner) is doing there, I think he has had an amazing year as a manager.
“I’m in the place that I want to be and the team are in the place that they want to be, we win we’re champions, that’s all I am focusing on, to get that done.”
Chelsea’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Manchester United kicks-off at 12pm.