‘It’s a big game’ – Brighton’s fixture at Leicester City important for both sides says Powell | OneFootball

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hope Powell says that this afternoon’s fixture at Leicester City is a game that is hugely important for both sides.

The Seagulls have lost all five games in all competitions since beating Leicester City 1-0 at The Amex Stadium in the reverse fixture in November, they have also failed to score. Meanwhile, Leicester City are bottom of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table and are in need of a positive result which would take them out of the relegation zone.

When speaking in her pre-match press conference, Brighton & Hove Albion boss Powell admitted that this afternoon’s game holds huge importance for both sides.

“Every game is significant but this is a big game,” Powell said. “They will have targeted us, they rested a number of players in midweek, some of the players that we think will play this afternoon which was sensible, we would do the same.

“They are bottom of the league and they perhaps didn’t expect Birmingham to win (last weekend). There is more pressure on them than there is on us but we’ve got our own internal pressure because we want to do well and win the game.

“The expectancy is arguably that Brighton should win the game, that is pressure but anybody who knows the game and understands the game knows that there is absolutely no guarantee.”

With so much on the line for both sides, Powell went on to say that she expects the game to potentially be a scrappy affair rather than one of great quality.

She said “With half the season gone and the fact that they are at the foot of the table, the pressure is on them. For them, it is about getting points in the board so that they don’t get relegated. For us, it is about getting points on the board because we don’t want to drop and we don’t want to be in that relegation battle.

They are in a fight, we’ve been there and I know exactly what it feels like. They’ve got players there who work very hard, they want to stay in the league so it’ll be a fight. I’m not sure that it will be a pretty game of football and we can’t get drawn into that, we really have to try and manage ourselves and manage the game. Equally, we need to compete with them physically on all fronts.”

Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture at Leicester City kicks-off at 2pm.