‘They can cause us trouble’ – Chelsea boss Bompastor wary of Everton threat | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor says that she is expecting a completely different challenge from Adobe Women’s FA Cup fifth round opponents Everton this weekend.

The Blues face Everton three months on from recording a 5-0 victory over the Merseysiders at Walton Hall Park in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Everton have invested in their playing squad since that loss and are in good form. When speaking to the media ahead of this weekend’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie, Chelsea boss Bompastor said that Everton are a completely different challenge to what her side faced in November.

“Since we played them last time, they’re in completely different form,” Bompastor said. “They will come with another dynamic on Sunday. I think they have a good dynamic at the moment, they’re on a good run and have had good results. We expect the game to be tougher than when we played them earlier in the season.

“They have talent and quality in their squad and they have good forwards. They can cause us trouble. We have analysed them, we know how to prepare; we need to focus on ourselves and how we can nullify their threats.

“For sure, they are in completely different form and will come here strong.”

Chelsea faced a similar challenge in midweek. They took on an improving West Ham United side in the Subway Women’s League Cup that they had previously beaten heavily in the league. Bompastor doesn’t want to compare the two challenges.

She said “Every team is different, every team has a lot of strengths and we will be ready again on Sunday to face a team that will be really motivated to play against us. It’s a cup game and that’s always a special game in terms of mentality. Everton will be really motivated but we focus on ourselves.

“I was not really happy with the performance in the game against Aston Villa. We were much better against West Ham but we need to make sure that we are all connected on the pitch, so that we have a good performance. I know that when my players are connected and are playing their best, it is really difficult to beat us.”

Chelsea go into Sunday’s tie having kept four consecutive home clean sheets and Bompastor says that the defensive resilience is a team effort.

She said “I was a defender, so it is always important to me to get clean sheets. All of the team work really hard for us not to concede any goals, it comes back to mentality. If we want to go far in every competition, it is really important to be strong defensively.

“It starts from our forwards then the midfield and the back-line, we all have to be on the same page. We really want to finish games with clean sheets.

“When you bring it back to mentality, we don’t want to give anything to our opponents. When we don’t have the ball, our mentality is to win the ball as much and as fast as we can. We work really hard not to concede any goals.”

Chelsea’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Everton kicks-off at 3pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.