Liverpool manager Matt Beard says that latest opponents Arsenal are a world-class team but his side will aim to rise to the challenge when they travel to the LV Bet Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The Reds will take on an Arsenal side that won the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup on Sunday. The Gunners defeated Chelsea 3-1 in the final at Selhurst Park to land their first piece of silverware in four years.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Liverpool boss Beard said that Arsenal are a world-class team, even without a couple of their stars due to injury, but his side will go to Boreham Wood with the aim of competing.
“When they have had people like Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema ruled out of their team, it does have an impact for sure, but they are a world-class team,” Beard said. “We know there is a gap between the top four right now to the rest of the teams. From our perspective, we’ve said this all along, we want to be as competitive as we can in this division.
“We are not short-sighted but Arsenal have played a lot of games lately. Sometimes, when you do win a cup final, it can have a knock-on effect, so hopefully for us, it does. If you look at their last few games in the WSL; the 1-1 draw with Chelsea, the goalless draw at West Ham and the one against Manchester City, they are a world-class team. We will go there like we always do, to set up to win football matches and we will do as much as we can to do that.”
Liverpool have played well in defeat in away fixtures against the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea this season. The Reds have enough about themselves to cause latest opponents Arsenal problems and Beard says that self-belief is key.
He said “For the most part, we have done okay against the top sides, taking the Manchester United game out of the equation. We have just got to believe in ourselves and I think that’s the biggest thing. We have some talented players at this club, we have a good squad. Wednesday night is going to give opportunities to some players who may not have had the minutes in recent months, so from that side of things, I’m excited to see that.
“When you do have the injuries we’ve got, sometimes it brings you closer together as a group. We have just got to make sure we concentrate on where we feel we can hurt and exploit Arsenal and also stop them from playing the way that they play. We’ve got a game plan and we’ve had a good amount of time to work on that. I think we are in a good place from a tactical point of view going into the game.”
Liverpool’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Arsenal kicks-off at 7.15pm on Wednesday evening.
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