We need to be clinical against Arsenal, says West Ham boss Rehanne Skinner | OneFootball

Rehanne Skinner (Karl W Newton/SPP)

Rehanne Skinner, the West Ham United head coach, says her side will need to be at their best to take something from their meeting with Arsenal on Friday.

West Ham lost their opening game of the Women’s Super League season 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur, and now face another North London team for their first home match of the campaign.

The Gunners are a side that West Ham know well, having played them in pre-season – but Skinner knows that playing them in the league will be a different prospect.

“You expect them to have spells of possession, but it’s about recognising the clear pressing moments that allow us to be effective,” she said in her pre-match press conference.

“Then it’s about composure when we regain the ball, being efficient and making the most of those opportunities. We did a pretty good job of that in pre-season, but league games bring another level of sharpness and intensity.

“I still think we’ll get into good areas and create chances. We need to make sure that we’re continuing our clinical nature in front of goal from last season.”

Rehanne Skinner: I was pleased with the way we went about the game

Although Skinner said she was “disappointed” with the opening-day defeat, she felt there were plenty of good signs to take away from it.

“In terms of the possession that we had, the areas we played in and the opportunities we created, we had three really good chances and needed to hit the target with those. So overall, I am disappointed with the result, but actually I was pleased with the shape, the set-up, and the way we went about the game.

“There are obviously things to work on, particularly creating more clear-cut chances, but we’ve shown in pre-season that we’re capable of doing that. We just didn’t quite transfer it into the game, and we’ll be looking to improve on that on Friday.”

And she knows her team will need to be focused for the entire 90 minutes.

“You’re always expecting a team like Arsenal to have a lot of different attacking threats, with movements that really test your concentration and organisation. The longer games against them go on, the more obvious that becomes.

“They’ve got plenty of players that can put the ball in the back of the net, so you can’t prevent everything, but we’ll work diligently to reduce the options they have.

“For us, it’s also about what we do when we have the ball – not necessarily always going forward, but how we control those parts of the game, keep our confidence, and make sure we impose ourselves when we’re in possession.”

West Ham host Arsenal on Friday, 12th September at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.