West Ham United women’s team v Brighton & Hove Albion
Barclays Women’s Super League, Chigwell Construction Stadium, Sunday 31 March 2024, 3pm BST
West Ham United women's team will be hoping to pick up more points in the Barclays Women's Super League when they welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to east London on Easter Sunday.
The Hammers produced a superb team performance at home against current WSL champions Chelsea last weekend, but ultimately fell to a 2-0 defeat in front of a strong crowd.
With many positives to take from that fixture, Rehanne Skinner will be hoping to see her side produce a similar performance against the Seagulls at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
Ahead of the game, here's everything you need to know...
Tickets
A limited number of tickets are still available for the clash against Brighton & Hove Albion, priced at just £13 for Adults and £5 for Juniors. Click here to purchase yours!
Tickets will also be available to purchase from the Ticket Office at the stadium, which opens at 1pm on Sunday.
How To Follow
The match against Brighton will be shown for free on The FA Player.
Alternatively, you can also follow the action across our social media channels, while highlights and exclusive reaction will follow after the final whistle on whufc.com.
The Opposition
Brighton & Hove Albion look set to extend their top-flight stay into a seventh consecutive season after thrashing Bristol City 7-3 at the start of the month. That was a first league victory for interim boss Mikey Harris after Melissa Phillips parted company with the club in February.
The result saw them jump from eleventh to ninth in the Barclays Women’s Super League table, and having beaten Leicester City last weekend, the Seagulls now sit in eighth position in the standings.
Albion were knocked out of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup against Manchester United recently, though they have recorded some impressive league results this campaign. After going down narrowly to Chelsea in October, they battled to earn a hard-fought 2-2 draw with the Red Devils. However, their form finally got its just rewards the following week when they stunned current joint-leaders Manchester City, defeating them 1-0 at Joie Stadium.
Following the shock sacking of manager Phillips, Harris has taken the step over from the men’s academy as interim boss and is expected to oversee Brighton for the remainder of the season.
Phillips, who had been in the role for just nine months, departed after the club decided it was 'vital for the progress we want to see'. The Seagulls threw down the gauntlet two years ago, mapping out a two-year strategy to become a top-four WSL side. After an £8.5m investment in a new training complex for the women’s team, plus the arrival of eleven new signings in the summer, they clearly feel they should have progressed further.
Harris is highly rated within the club but had never worked within women’s football before. He earned his first victory in a 4-1 win over FAWNL Northern Premier Division side Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup before picking up his maiden WSL victory over Bristol City in blistering fashion.
Previous Meetings
The two sides have met twice already this season, with each winning a game apiece.
In the reverse fixture in the Barclays Women’s Super League, the Hammers ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Kirsty Smith and Riko Ueki. Watch highlights from the win at Broadfield Stadium back in October by clicking here!
The teams also faced off in the group stage of the Continental Tyres League Cup, also at Broadfield Stadium, where the home side came out on top 3-1 and went on to top Group E.
Coach's View...
“At the weekend [against Chelsea], despite some of the things that overshadowed it I thought we played really, really well,” Skinner told those attending her pre-match press conference.
“We had the goal that was disallowed, but actually, we had four really good chances in the first half, and you don't normally get that many against Chelsea.
“We were delighted that we created all of those chances. I think that's a massive confidence boost. We just have to be able to do that against every team we play against week in week out, and obviously, just be a little bit more clinical.
“Chelsea punished us with those moments where they were more clinical than what we were on the day, and that's the fine margins that we want to try and improve on as a team. We’ll keep working on that and try and learn from it as fast as we possibly can.
“If we can get that right, we're more than capable of scoring goals, and we want to make sure that we do that this weekend against Brighton.”
