‘You have to be at your absolute best’ – Roberts previews Brighton’s fixture against Arsenal | OneFootball

Brighton & Hove Albion’s assistant head coach Chris Roberts says that his side must be at their best when they face Arsenal this weekend.

The Seagulls take on The Gunners at Broadfield Stadium as they look to bounce back from consecutive defeats in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Arsenal are bang in form and have recorded several impressive results in recent weeks. When speaking to the media in the pre-match press conference, Brighton & Hove Albion’s assistant boss Roberts said that the Sussex club are capable of getting a result against the odds if they are at their very best.

“We have shown in previous games against them that we can not only compete, we can beat them like we did in our home game last season,” Roberts said. “It was an incredible game then we caused them problems and made it difficult at the Emirates this season. On another day, we could take something from that game.

“When you play Arsenal, you have to be at your absolute best and ride the storm at times in terms of pressure but you have to be brave enough to play and have belief that you can get something from the game. That’s going to be really important this weekend.”

Arsenal have goal threats all over the pitch with several different players getting their names on the scoresheet in recent weeks. Roberts says that Brighton & Hove Albion must be well-organised defensively to manage The Gunners’ threats but equally, they have to create their own good moments in possession.

He said “They keep the ball well, have a lot of movements and rotations then on top of that, they have extremely high levels of quality, world-class players. We need to get the defensive structure right and the individual roles, responsibilities and understanding within that. 

“The most important thing is that we have our fair share of the ball as well. It’s important not to go into the game with the mindset of ‘we are here to defend’ because against top teams, you can get something from the game like that but it’s rare. You need to impose yourselves with the ball, have your own spells and have an attacking threat. You have to control the game with the ball at times.

“When we don’t have the ball, we know we are going to have to deal with spells of pressure. We know how good they are but we are organised, have a structure in place, everyone knows their jobs and we need to make sure we do those jobs well.”

Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Arsenal kicks-off at 2.30pm on Sunday. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.