Spurs Women v West Ham – Karen and Juan’s preview
Fri 04 September 2020, 16:30|
Tottenham Hotspur
It’s been seven months since Karen Hills and Juan Amoros’ side were last in league action with a 1-0 away win over Brighton & Hove Albion in February, and the Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) finally returns this weekend!
Spurs Women commence the new season with a London derby against West Ham this Sunday (6 September) at The Hive – 2pm kick-off.
A month before our last league outing against the Seagulls, Rianna Dean scored a dramatic late winner in the 96th minute at The Hive to hand us a 2-1 league victory over Sunday’s visitors - her third goal in as many appearances against the Hammers last season.
“It’s always going to be a tough challenge when you put Spurs and West Ham together,” said Karen on facing our London rivals in our opening fixture of the new campaign. “We beat them in the league on both occasions last season, so we know they’re going to be coming to The Hive on Sunday looking to get one up on us and we have to rise to the challenge. Ultimately, it’s our first home game of the season and we want to make our home ground a fortress and for every team to fear us when they come to us.”
Juan added: “When I think about Spurs and West Ham, we are two clubs who have been growing and growing for many years. When the two teams have met in the past, it’s always been tough on the pitch in the National League, Cup semi-finals, league games – there’s a big history between us and for both of us to be on the stage that we’re on is fantastic. Starting the new season off against them is exciting and it’s a game we’re all looking forward to.”
We want to make our home ground a fortress and for every team to fear us when they come to us.
Karen and Juan strengthened the squad this summer with the arrivals of Aurora Mikalsen, Kerys Harrop, Rachel Williams, Alanna Kennedy and Shelina Zadorsky, while West Ham have also signed several new players including Lionesses’ star Rachel Daly who arrives in London on loan from Houston Dash.
“We know they have a strong squad and their main threats are Kenza Dali and Martha Thomas,” Juan continued. “We always focus on what we have and in addition to the players that were here last season, we’ve recruited well, and our new signings are settling into the Spurs family perfectly as we expected. We want to showcase on Sunday how hard we’ve been working in pre-season and how much this team has grown.”
Karen added: “The biggest challenge for us on Sunday is ourselves. We’ve got to make sure we’re going out there with the belief that we’re going to win the game and do everything we can to get the three points. We need to play to our strengths, stick to our game plan and be in control. If we do that then we won’t need to worry about the qualities that they have in their side.”
We want to showcase on Sunday how hard we’ve been working in pre-season and how much this team has grown.
Sunday’s match against the Hammers will be played behind closed doors due to prevailing circumstances with COVID-19 but fans will be able to watch us live on The FA Player which can be accessed for free.
“We know the fans will be following us on The FA Player but it’s just not the same – we love to play football for the fans and we want them to come along, watch us and enjoy the football on show. Even though we’re playing at home on Sunday, we don’t really have that home advantage over West Ham because the fans won’t be in the ground with us and they are massively important to everything we do on the pitch. It’s not an ideal situation but it’s something we just need to deal with and hopefully they’ll be back with us at The Hive soon.”
