West Ham United women's team goalkeeper Kinga Szemik believes the side's tough start to the 2024/25 season has prepared them for the next batch of upcoming Barclays Women's Super League matches.
The Poland international has been between the posts as the Irons have faced Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton so far this term, and she believes that taking on some of the top teams in the league will prove to have helped them get ready for what's to come in the top division.
Rehanne Skinner's charges return to action on Sunday after the two-week break for international football, where Szemik helped Poland overcome Romania and advance to round two in the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying play-offs.
Szemik was pleased to help her country to victory during the break, and hopes to be able to do the same when West Ham get back into match action against Tottenham Hotspur at the Gaughan Group Stadium.
"It was very important that we got the win and qualified for the final round of play-off matches. I'm very happy that we managed to do that, but now attention turns to this weekend with West Ham," the 27-year-old said.
"We've been getting better and better as a team with every game that we've had. We can see that in the games that we had just before the international break. Hopefully we will be more clinical in the final third and score more goals.
"We have to be patient and stick to our plan on Sunday, and I hope that we'll be able to come away with three points against Tottenham."
Skinner's side are on the hunt for their first win of the campaign, having drawn with Everton and Liverpool in league action so far. Szemik believes that the team's recent performances mean a first victory isn't too far away.
She added: "It's been a challenging start for us, but we've played some really tough opposition and we have a lot of new players, including myself, that have joined the team this summer and are adapting to life at West Ham.
"Like I said, I think we've improved as a team with every game, and we've produced some strong performances against tough opposition. In a good way, I think facing the tough opponents will have prepared us well for the matches that we have coming up. I hope it will really help us."
You can watch the women's team in action against Tottenham Hotspur on the WSL's Official YouTube channel on Sunday, with coverage beginning shortly before the scheduled 2pm (GMT) kick-off.
