Defensive composure key for West Ham United against Chelsea says Skinner | OneFootball

West Ham United manager Rehanne Skinner says that it is important that her side continue to be composed in defence when they face Chelsea this weekend.

The Hammers play host to The Blues at The Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Chelsea have dropped just one point in the league so far, however, West Ham United should not be written-off. The Hammers have been excellent at home this season with their one defeat coming to Arsenal.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, West Ham United boss Skinner praised the fans for making their home ground a fortress whilst highlighting the importance of her team’s defensive work this weekend.

“Our home ground has been made tremendous by the fans, it’s a difficult place to come to,” Skinner said. “The players love playing at home and we’ve made life difficult for a lot of teams and had some really good results. That then gives us a lot of confidence going into the game.

“We know it’s a tough opponent that has scored a lot of goals and we expect that to be a challenge but we are confident in the way that we are defending; how we are sticking together and playing as a unit. I think that’s only got more composed as time has gone on and I think we can make life difficult for them in certain areas.

“Our forward line is improving all of the time as well and I definitely think we’ve got goals in us. It’s about taking chances in key moments and managing the game effectively.”

Going on to discuss areas of improvement in 2025, Skinner said that she wants her side to convert more of their chances in-front of goal.

She said “I’ve been pleased overall with how we’ve been developing and performing within the team with lots of changes and we’ve been so close to a lot of results.

“There are times where we know we could’ve capitalised in key moments. I think we want to be a bit more clinical when we are on top; get a little bit more out of it that puts us on the front-foot in this second half of the season.

“Defensively, we have done fantastic, there has been significant improvement since last year. It just comes down to punishing teams in those key moments that help us to either see out games and keep points or get ourselves into a more positive position earlier in games. That’s something that we think we can improve on even more.”

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