West Ham United head into Monday’s Women’s Super League match against Liverpool fully confident of leaving Prenton Park with three points, according to Matt Beard.
The Irons travel to north to take on the Reds looking to claim a first league win of 2019, and head coach Beard is delighted with how his side have prepared for the fixture.
Beard knows Liverpool will also be confident, having secured a win in their last match, but the boss says West Ham’s work heading into the game has the whole team assured of securing the result.
We feel it’s a game that we can win. It won’t be easy but we have had some good preparation this week.
Matt Beard
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Beard told whufc.com. “Liverpool had a good win against Yeovil in their last match, and obviously scoring in the last minute of that game will give them a bit of confidence coming into this one.
“We’re setting up to go and win the game. We feel it’s a game that we can win. It won’t be easy but we have had some good preparation this week. With the match being on Monday too, it gives us some extra time to rest the international players and get a few really good sessions in before the match.
“We’re going into the game with confidence and we’re hoping to come away with three points.”
Monday’s match with the Reds will be West Ham’s third league match of 2019, having suffered defeats in the first two at the hands of the top two WSL sides, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Beard says injuries to his squad was a huge factor in those games, but feels his team is in a much better place, with new signings Adriana Leon and Cho So-hyun joining the Irons, and Leanne Kiernan coming back from her set-back.
He continued: “That first week, to be honest, just came a week too soon for us. We didn’t have our new signings in and we were in a difficult position in terms of injuries. From that side of things, we only had eleven or 12 outfield players fit.
“The international break came at the right time because it gave us the opportunity to get players like Leanne Kiernan fit. We’re in a much better place from an injury point of view; certainly more so than what we were in that first week of 2019. We’ve unfortunately still got a couple missing.
“Adriana [Leon] and Cho [So-hyun] are in and had a full week training with us. We’ve got good competition for places and we’re excited to see how the game pans out.”
Having joined in the 24 hours prior to the home match with Manchester City two weeks ago, Leon and Cho have now had the chance to settle into their new surroundings at Rush Green, and Beard couldn’t be happier with how the duo have intergrated into his squad.
“Dri and Cho have settled in brilliantly,” the head coach added. “I’m really pleased with how they’ve both come in and got to work with us.
“The rest of the girls are a great group and made both of them feel really welcome. We’re delighted with how they’ve done so far.”