Rehanne previews Spurs Women v Aston Villa

After picking up our first three points in the league this season against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, Rehanne Skinner’s side have the opportunity to get back-to-back wins in the league for the first time since September, 2019, when we take on Aston Villa at The Hive on Sunday (13 December), kick-off is 2pm.

Sunday sees us face Aston Villa for the first time in the top flight, and it will be our first competitive meeting since we secured promotion to the Barclays FA Women’s Super League with a 1-1 draw on a historic night for the Club at Boldmere St Michaels in May, 2019.

On facing Villa, Rehanne said: “They had a good result against Bristol City during the week and they are in the same position as us in the sense that we’re both trying to gain points and momentum. They’ll certainly be looking to try and follow on from the positive result they had on Wednesday (9 December), so we need to be prepared. They’ve never been a team who have been short of determination and hard work, so we’ve got to expect a battle and we’ll need to be on our game to get points. Gemma (Davies) has worked really hard to set up their team, gain promotion and the players are committed to her and how she delivers things. She’s got a really good rapport with those players and I think it’s a testament to the hard work she’s putting in.

“From our perspective, the game is massive this weekend. Ultimately everyone is looking to get points so we can start the new year in the best possible position. For us, the win last weekend was great, but it can’t be a one off. We need to keep building momentum and get a couple of games under our belts where the performances are going in the right direction.”

Ending a seven-game winless run, goals from Kerys Harrop, Angela Addison and Alex Morgan secured a 3-1 home victory against the Seagulls in Rehanne’s first game in charge as we welcomed fans back to The Hive for the first time since February, 2019.

“The win was massive for us,” Rehanne commented. “It’s been a long time coming for this group, but I think they went into the game confident in the way we prepared over the course of the week. For me, it was just a case of getting to know the players and seeing how our work in training would transfer over into the game itself. Obviously, the players were really happy with the result, happy to have the fans back in the stadium, which was great, and I think there was an acceptance that there were certainly things in the match that we want to be better at, we’ve done the analysis and everybody is in agreement with that, but overall it was a really positive first step.

“We were creating lots of different opportunities but with some of our decision-making in and around the box, we maybe weren’t aware of slightly better options at times so that’s a case of trying to find the best possible option to create more clear-cut chances, so we’ll keep working on that. The other thing was our game management towards the end and how we set up defensively during that period – we probably could have closed our gaps a little bit better and made ourselves harder to beat, while limiting options for them to play for in the last 10/15 minutes.”

Another bonus for Rehanne last Sunday, in addition to getting the win, was the return of Anna Filbey, Jess Naz, Rachel Williams and Kit Graham to the matchday squad following their injuries.

“It’s a massive plus,” Rehanne said. “When I first arrived, there were a lot of players with injuries and we’re almost back to having everyone in full training apart from Chloe Peplow. What that does is it breeds competition in the squad, and it means we can challenge each other. We’ve got options in all positions and it’s going to boil down to the players who are performing at their best and working to the game plan and delivering that.

“The biggest thing with every team is that everybody has to understand what value they add to the squad. Whether they’re a starting player or a substitute, everyone does have a part to play to build up the quality of everything we do. We have to train like we want to play. Everybody’s work rate throughout the course of the week contributes to increasing that challenge that prepares us better for games. So, if they’re on or off the pitch, they still play a significant part in what we want to achieve. The other side to that is you never know what’s going to happen. Somebody might get a call into the squad at the last minute so for everybody they’ve got to stay focussed for when they get an opportunity and be in the best possible position to help the team to deliver.”

As a reminder, access to Sunday’s match against Aston Villa is exclusive to Spurs Women Season Ticket Holders and we are unfortunately unable to offer general admission tickets.

The attendance of away supporters is not permitted within the initial return of fans this weekend and will continue to be reviewed with Clubs by the WSL. Fans living in a Tier 3 area are also not permitted at The Hive as per government guidance.

Fans who are unable to attend Sunday’s game against Villa can follow the action live on The FA Player.