Viviane Asseyi says West Ham United women’s team will approach Saturday’s Barclys Women’s Super League derby at Chelsea with confidence following back-to-back wins this week.
Chelsea may be the four-time reigning WSL champions, but Asseyi believes her team can cause a shock by going to Kingsmeadow and extending their unbeaten run to a third game.
Last weekend’s 2-0 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion was backed-up by a 2-1 Continental Tyres League Cup win against another London rival in Charlton Athletic.
Now striker Asseyi, who featured for France at this summer’s FIFA World Cup, has her eyes on upsetting the odds in west London.
“Everything is possible,” she insisted. “We know that Chelsea are a big team, for me it’s the team that play they best football in the league.
“Of course, we know that they’ve got big players, are a big team and we have a lot of respect for that. But when you’re on the pitch you have to give everything, everything is possible, to the people that believe.
“If we stay together, if we give everything on the pitch, we never know what will happen, but if we give everything and everyone does their job well, we can do something.”
Asseyi is relishing working under new women’s team boss Rehanne Skinner and believes her impact is already being felt by the team.
“I really enjoy working under Rehanne,” he continued. “She’s so focused, she gives everything on the pitch, she just likes football and she helps us a lot when something is wrong on the pitch.
“She keeps calm, she wants the best of all of us, so that’s really good to work with.
“It’s like family at West Ham. I’ve just been here one year, and it feels like I’ve been here for a long time because you are like a family. You go to eat, even the cooks you are family with them, everyone says hello, the boys.
“The other day we were with the boys, it looks like we play every day together. It’s good, I think what the Club creates here, the family between the girls and the boys is really good.”
The new Women’s Super League season has kicked-off during Black History Month in October, and Asseyi has been thrilled by how widely that is celebrated in the English domestic game.
“I was shocked when I arrived and I saw all the motivation that the league has and the country has about all the black people,” she observed,
“I was surprised but a good surprised, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in other leagues, the people are so involved in that.
“It makes me so much more confident, I feel myself. I feel like everyone here is different, but everyone is at the same place, it’s good, I’m happy."
