‘The players are really up for it’ – West Ham ready to give their all against Chelsea says Skinner

West Ham United manager Rehanne Skinner says that her side are ready to give their all against Chelsea this afternoon.

The Hammers face the Barclays Women’s Super League champions at The Chigwell Construction Stadium in their latest fixture.

West Ham United have taken four points from their last two home fixtures against Arsenal and Manchester United and manager Skinner says that her side are ready to now give their latest challenge their all.

“In those couple of games, we showed that we can turn up and we’ve performed really well at home in those games,” Skinner said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “We are looking forward to getting back in front of our fans again.

“When we played Chelsea in the FA Cup, we gave a really good account of ourselves as well. 

“The players are really up for it and I think it’s an opportunity to bounce back after last weekend where there were a few things that we were a bit disappointed with. It’s another game, another opportunity and we are going to give it absolutely everything we can.”

Chelsea are midway through a chaotic eight-game month in which they are competing in four different competitions. Skinner is taking nothing for granted and this afternoon’s fixture is all about the energy that West Ham United can bring.

She said “Their squad is built to manage multiple-game weeks, they’ve got a lot of depth in their squad. I would never underestimate them, we’ve got a lot of respect for Chelsea but at the same time, we don’t fear them, we want to go out and do what we’ve got to do in games.

“We will be competitive, we will work really hard no matter what the starting XI is for Chelsea and we will make sure we do everything we can to deliver our game plan. Hopefully, that gives us opportunities to score goals and get points out of the game.”

With the likes of Sam Kerr on the sidelines, Chelsea have developed a new attacking threat in recent games with German midfielder Sjoeke Nüsken making a real impact higher up the park. Nüsken is a talent that Skinner knows lots about.

“She’s versatile, she’s played centre-half, centre-midfield and centre-forward,” Skinner said. “I’ve been fortunate to watch her all through youth ages when I was with England, she played up against us quite a lot of times. The way she’s developed and grown, it’s definitely benefiting her being in that environment [at Chelsea], she’s going from strength-to-strength.

“She’s going to be a tough player to handle but in the nicest possible way, that squad is in the position that they’re in because of their depth. We have to be mindful of every player on that pitch. 

“We just want to make sure that we stick to our game plan and hopefully, make it as hard as possible. We want to fight for everything and make sure it’s as difficult a task for her and everybody else as much as we possibly can.”

West Ham United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Chelsea kicks-off at 4.30pm. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.