Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says that her side treat every game as a ‘must-win’ game and that there’s no additional pressure riding on this evening’s fixture against BK Häcken.
The Blues travel to Sweden on Matchday 4 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage. Chelsea are two points behind group leaders BK Häcken with three matches left to play.
The South West Londoners are in need of a win to boost their chances of topping the group but manager Hayes does not believe that the fixture carries any additional pressure.
“Every game is a ‘must-win’ game for us, that’s our mentality,” Hayes said. “We were disappointed with our performance last week but we have worked on that, trained very well and played well at the weekend.
“This place will be rocking, it’ll be a difficult place to play. We are playing an opponent that are very confident in what they are doing and they have had an amazing year, especially in the Champions League.
“For us, we have to deal with all of those challenges and we have to be ready to perform.”
BK Häcken have collected seven points from three group stage matches and are very much the surprise package. Chelsea are set for a tough encounter at the Bravida Arena but manager Hayes wants her side to use experience to their advantage.
She said “We are experienced in Europe, so we understand the challenges. It’s a different surface, it’s a bit colder than London and a different type of opponent. I think it’ll be a very different game from [the goalless draw at] Stamford Bridge, particularly because of the crowd.
“We have experience and it is important that we use it. That will be the message that I give to the players. We have been in this competition long enough, we’ve gone deep in this competition and while it hasn’t been perfect in the group stage, we have a dressing room that is capable of winning.”
Chelsea’s UEFA Women’s Champions League fixture against BK Häcken kicks-off at 8pm this evening.