Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Jens Scheuer says that his side’s preparation won’t change for this weekend’s fixture against Aston Villa.
The Seagulls meet The Villans just eight days after contesting the reverse fixture at The Poundland Bescot Stadium in Walsall. On that occasion, Kayleigh Green’s own goal handed Aston Villa a first half lead before Brighton & Hove Albion levelled matters in the second half through Julia Zigiotti Olme.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of the latest fixture, Brighton & Hove Albion boss Scheuer said that his side’s preparation doesn’t change from the previous meeting with Aston Villa.
“It is special to play an opponent twice back-to-back,” Scheuer said. “It’s not a normal situation but it doesn’t change anything; our preparation is the same, it is not like we are preparing for a different opponent.
“We know their strengths and weaknesses, we know how they attack and defend and we knew this ahead of the first game so it doesn’t change anything.”
After this weekend’s fixture, Brighton & Hove Albion have a two-week break until their next match with international football taking the priority. The enforced interval is something of a headache for Scheuer but he says that his coaching team will be working hard with the players who aren’t going away to represent their respective nations.
He said “It is an unwanted break for me. It would be better if we stayed together as a group, going out together on the pitch. You can’t change it, this is football and you have to handle it, national teams are really important to all of us. We have to accept it and do our best with the players who remain here.
“We will have a smaller group with six or seven players staying here but we take the positives. With six or seven players, you can practice with them individually and it also gives us a little bit of time to prepare Elisabeth Terland for a comeback. Hopefully, all of the players who go away on international duty come back fit and healthy then we look towards the FA Cup.”
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Aston Villa kicks-off at 2pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.