Patience could be the key for Chelsea against Liverpool says Hayes | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says that her side may need to be patient to break down a well-drilled Liverpool outfit this weekend.

The Blues take on The Reds at Kingsmeadow in the fourth round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup on Sunday.

Chelsea will be the big favourites to qualify this weekend but manager Hayes expects Matt Beard’s Liverpool side to be difficult to break down and her team may need to show patience to get the result.

“His teams are compact, they set up five at the back most of the time, four at the back this week against West Ham but their principles don’t change; they’re compact from back to front,” Hayes said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “They’re difficult to break through so you’ve got to be patient when you play against his teams because they don’t give you a lot of space.

“We expect to dominate the ball, create the most amount of chances but breaking them down will be challenging.”

Chelsea lost 2-1 at Liverpool on the opening day of the season, one of the shock results of the 2022/2023 campaign so far. Hayes said that she is not thinking about that result and that the aim is building on the last performance.

She said “Nobody is too good to lose and on that day, we didn’t deserve that much. It is a long time in the world of football.

“This week, we just have to build off the performance that we put in against Tottenham on Wednesday night, particularly second half when we found our stride. I thought it was a really good team performance so we will just look to build on that, I think that’s the priority.”

Chelsea’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Liverpool is scheduled to kick-off at 1pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.