West Ham United focusing on themselves says Skinner as they prepare to face Arsenal | OneFootball

West Ham United manager Rehanne Skinner says that her side’s focus is on themselves as they prepare to face Arsenal at The Chigwell Construction Stadium this afternoon.

The Hammers face an Arsenal side that are under the interim management of Renée Slegers following former boss Jonas Eidevall’s resignation last week.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, West Ham United boss Skinner said that the events at Arsenal won’t affect her side and that they are focused on building their own performance.

“Players react in different ways when there’s change but I don’t think it puts us in a better or worse position for what we were preparing for anyway,” Skinner said. “We’ve just got to keep focusing on continuing to learn and improve and do the things that we did well last weekend even better this weekend.

“We played really well against them at home last year and we want to make life as tough for them as possible. It’s another opportunity for us to try and get points. It’ll be tough but we will do everything we can to do that.”

West Ham United defeated Arsenal 2-1 at home last season and some may fancy The Hammers to have a good chance again given Arsenal’s current situation. Skinner highlighted the importance of West Ham United getting every aspect of their game right to have a chance of being successful.

She said “We take every game as it comes and every game is an opportunity to get a result. For me, when we get the pieces of the jigsaw right, we will compete with everyone in this league. We know that previously from lots of different clubs. On the day, it is 11 v 11, anyone can take points off anyone, that’s the status of the league.

“You can’t get too caught up in their situation, that’s not something that we can focus on. All we can focus on is trying to bring the best version of ourselves to the game. We will need to do that because they’re a top side with top players. If we do that and do it right, we will be competitive and make life difficult for them.”

With this season’s Barclays Women’s Super League being ultra-competitive, clubs in the bottom half of the table may need to take more points off those higher-ranked sides. Skinner believes that taking points from the teams around them will still be key for West Ham United.

She said “It’ll help to try and bridge the gap and get yourselves towards the top half of the table taking points from the top teams. The biggest battle is those in and around you because that’s what creates the distance to help you finish further up the table.”

West Ham United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Arsenal kicks-off at 3pm. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.