‘It’s just as important as every other game’ – Hayes previews Chelsea’s trip to Arsenal | OneFootball

After a two-week international break, Chelsea manager Emma Hayes is preparing for what is likely to be her final visit to the Emirates Stadium as Blues boss.

A victory would see her side go six points clear at the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table. It would be a huge advantage with less than half of the season played.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Hayes was keen not to put too much emphasis on the importance of Sunday’s game in North London.

“I’m just thinking about getting the team back together after being away for two weeks,” Hayes said. “Everyone in our environment knows the way we play and what their roles are and that’s all I care about.”

Hayes was delighted to announce the return of Norwegian star Guro Reiten and German powerhouse Melanie Leupolz who are both fully-fit and available for selection this weekend. With goalscorers such as Beth Mead and Sam Kerr likely to feature, Hayes alluded to the idea that the game could easily be very high-scoring.

She said “When you look at it like that, I guess we could see a lot of goals. Arsenal are at home, they’re used to their pitch and every home team generally has a little bit of an advantage. They’ve got their own crowd too.

“We’re going away from home and we understand what we have to do. I don’t think any coach likes too many goals in games because it indicates either lots of errors or lots of transitions.”

Since Arsenal’s surprise 1-0 home loss to Liverpool in the opening game of the season, their upward trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable and that isn’t something that Hayes is taking lightly.

“Arsenal have the most counter-attacking shots in the league; they’re an unbelievable counter-attacking team,” she said. “They can cut you open in two or three passes and are such a threat on the last line.

“I think they’ve got more depth than ever and a lot of the team have been together for a significant period of time. They’ve got a lot of experience but they’ve also got a lot of new players that I think are adding different qualities.

“They were [title rivals] at the beginning; nothing changed. They lost a game and they’ve scored the most goals in 90-plus minutes in the league. They fought their way to being in the position they are and they have outstanding qualities. They’ve recruited and signed a lot of players and they’ve got players who are good enough to play for any team in the world.

“We shouldn’t talk about Arsenal competing as a surprise, it should be an expectation, so it’s nothing new to us.”

Chelsea’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Arsenal kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon.