Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that he expects this afternoon’s opponents Tottenham Hotspur to be fired up but he wants his side to give everything to get three points.
The clash at the Leigh Sports Village is hugely important for both sides. Manchester United are seeking a first Barclays Women’s Super League title while Spurs are likely to be one win away from securing safety.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester United boss Skinner said that he expects opponents Spurs to arrive in the North West fired up but he wants his players to give their all to get the win.
“I’d expect as much pressure to be on them as there is on us every week,” Skinner said. “The reality is that they’ve got to get points. They’re in a relegation fight right now, so I would expect a really fired up team, spearheaded by a forward in Beth (England) who scores goals and has lots of quality.
“When I look around that Tottenham team, they have lots of quality. There’s quality from the wide areas, there’s quality in some of their defensive aspects.
“It hasn’t quite clicked for whatever reason this year but I expect a fired up team that are playing like they’re under pressure. If you want to win these games of football, you have to be at your very best, so I’m expecting my players to give absolutely everything.”
Manchester United won the reverse fixture 2-1 but there was little to separate the two sides at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium over the 90 minutes. Skinner believes that his side can sharpen up some of their attacking play going into their latest meeting with The Lilywhites.
He said “They were stubborn and tried to stop us playing but the reality is that when I’ve watched that game back, there was loads of room for us to play through and we just weren’t aggressive enough with the ball when we were in great pockets. We should have taken those opportunities to progress with the ball and I’d expect that from us in this game.
“I’d expect us to be aggressive, I’d expect us to take these last four games with as much aggression as we’ve ever hit before in our lives and to really give energy and commitment to what we are trying to achieve.”
Manchester United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur kicks-off at 12.30pm. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.