‘It’s always been a hard game for Arsenal’ – Slegers wary of West Ham United threat | OneFootball

Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers admits that this weekend’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United is a tough assignment.

The Gunners head to The Chigwell Construction Stadium to face The Hammers on Friday evening.

West Ham United gave all of the top sides good games last season, recording positive results against Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City and Slegers expects the East Londoners to be a tough nut to crack again this term.

“[It’s] a very hard game,” Slegers said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “I know historically it’s always been a hard place for Arsenal to go to, it’s a hard ground. They play a type of football that they believe in and they’re very disciplined in the way they do things but we’ll have to be that as well.

“Of course, we believe in ourselves and our own qualities but we’ll go there with humility because we know it’s a hard game and we have things to prove for ourselves. We need to understand the setting and the opposition but at the end of the day, we look a lot at what we want to bring to the game tomorrow and that’s what we’ll focus on.”

West Ham United have one of the Barclays Women’s Super League’s most dangerous forwards in their ranks in Shekiera Martinez. The player hit double figures in the second half of last season and Slegers acknowledged her significant impact.

She said “Yeah, she’s really added something to their game. If you look at her contributions in the second half of last season, she’s been very impactful for them. She brings a lot; she brings full threats, she’s a threat in-behind, she has physicality and a high work-rate, so she’s definitely a player that we’ll have to deal with tomorrow.”

Arsenal and West Ham United met in pre-season with The Gunners running out 2-0 winners. Slegers admits that the North Londoners know The Hammers very well.

She said “We played two league games against them last season and especially towards the end of last season, I think they performed really well, played to their own strengths and made it really hard for us. You see similar things in the pre-season game. I think they’ve tweaked a couple of things and changed a couple of things but I think we have quite a good idea of who we’re going to play against tomorrow.”

Arsenal’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United kicks-off at 7.30pm on Friday evening.