Manchester City fixture ‘a real test of concentration’ for West Ham United says Skinner | OneFootball

West Ham United manager Rehanne Skinner says that this afternoon’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Manchester City will really test her side’s concentration.

The Hammers travel to The Joie Stadium looking to cause an upset with opponents Manchester City being in the thick of the Barclays Women’s Super League’s title race.

The Cityzens have won 12 league matches on the spin and West Ham United boss Skinner says that this afternoon’s fixture will provide her side with a real test of their concentration.

“It won’t be an easy game, they’re in really good form at the moment,” Skinner said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “We are working as hard as we can off the back of the international break, getting everyone back together. We had a friendly last weekend because we wanted to make sure we got everyone back on track with things.

“Ultimately, it’s going to be a real test of our concentration, the way that we’re trying to play and obviously, we need to make sure that we capitalise on chances when we get them and make sure that we are really organised defensively. It will be a difficult test because they’re a good team.”

West Ham United go into the game having scored just twice in their last five games. Skinner says that her side need to be more ruthless in front of goal just as they’ve demonstrated on the training ground.

She said “We haven’t been clinical or ruthless enough in those moments. If we are not creating chances, that’s obviously a bigger issue but in the game against Brighton, we had several chances which was a little frustrating. We are doing well with it in training but we just need to convert it over those key moments.

“If you look at some of the goals that we have scored, we’ve got some really important goals in key games; the Manchester United one, the goals against Arsenal. We can score goals, we just need to take those chances a little bit more positively when we get them.”

Manchester City are level on points with Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table, however, their goal difference is slightly inferior. The Cityzens need goals and Skinner is preparing her side to be effective at both ends of the pitch.

She said “If they are committing numbers [forward], we might be able to utilise some of our strengths in that sense as well.

“Defensively, we need to be really diligent with what we do because they have several attacking threats. We’ve faced that before against other teams this season and we just have to make sure that we are really organised and disciplined with the way that we set up.

“We have to be mindful that they’ll be chasing goals, so we will have to make sure that we are ready for that but I’ve been really proud of the players’ diligence to weather a storm. We just have to bring those experiences into this game to help us.”

West Ham United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Manchester City kicks-off at 2.15pm this afternoon.