Chelsea ‘more than a good test’ for London City Lionesses says Prêcheur | OneFootball

London City Lionesses head coach Jocelyn Prêcheur says that this weekend’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Chelsea is more than just a good test for his side.

The Pride travel to Stamford Bridge to contest their latest Barclays Women’s Super League fixture on Saturday afternoon.

When speaking to the media in the pre-match press conference, London City Lionesses boss Prêcheur said that taking on the English champions is an exciting prospect.

“It’s a very interesting game for us,” Prêcheur said. “We are in the WSL to play Chelsea and when you are a competitor, you always want to play the champions. Chelsea without doubt are the champions of England.

“The game’s at Stamford Bridge which is exciting. We are very motivated and excited to play this game.”

Going on to discuss Chelsea in more detail, Prêcheur highlighted The Blues’ strength-in-depth whilst stating that London City Lionesses can take inspiration and learnings beyond 90 minutes of football.

He said “It’s a very complete team. The way that they have built the club over the last seven or eight years is a very good example to follow and it’s inspiring for the London City project. It’s not complete but this is the level that we want to have.

“It’s not only a good test, we have a good test in the WSL every weekend, it’s more than that. We want to get to the level as quickly as possible even though it’s easier said than done.

“We need to prepare and we need to adapt during the game because they can play in a completely different way. We are playing a team that have played together for a very long time. They have stability, talent, experience and multiple options. This is the problem when you play Chelsea because if you play against starters or from the bench, it doesn’t change a lot and you have the same quality of player.

“It’s a very good test. I want my players to adapt to different situations, different problems and we have worked on that a lot in training. It’s also a good opportunity for me to see how much we’ve improved since the start of the season.”

London City Lionesses have conceded 13 goals in games against Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs. Prêcheur stopped short of confirming whether or not his side will express more caution against Chelsea.

He said “We are playing another team from the top four; Chelsea are the champions, so let’s see if we are able to compete more compared to Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City. The game against Manchester City was better than the previous two games even if the result was heavy.

“This is our process, we know that we can’t talk about adapting to the league after just two months. We are the new team of this level and we are far from expressing our full potential at this moment. What we need now is more stability, to develop connections between the players, improve the knowledge of the project, keep our identity and build on it.

“Do we keep our identity and keep on moving forwards, taking risks and pressing high or do we close the space? We made the choice and you will have the answers tomorrow.”

London City Lionesses’ Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Chelsea kicks-off at 12pm on Saturday afternoon.