Powell: We need to back up Chelsea result

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Head coach calls for another big effort against West Ham tonight.

Bruce Talbot

2021-02-10T06:30:00Z

Hope Powell wants her team to build on Sunday's win over Chelsea.

Hope Powell has warned her players that tonight’s opponents West Ham will be as tough to face as leaders Chelsea.

Albion stunned the WSL champions with a 2-1 win on Sunday but the head coach says that result will count for little if they don’t back it up against the Hammers, whom they meet at the People’s Pension Stadium (7pm).

“We will take a lot of confidence from Sunday. We played well and got ourselves a fantastic result,” she said.

“It showed to me that no game in the league is a foregone conclusion, in the same way that because we beat Chelsea we should beat West Ham at home. They will be a totally different proposition but it’s going to be just as difficult if we don’t maintain the standards we showed against Chelsea.”

Sunday’s win moved Albion up to eighth in the table, but West Ham are only four points below them and have two games in hand.

“We are still fighting to stay in the WSL, we’re under no illusions about that,” added Powell. “Every game in this league is massive and our approach has to exactly the same as it was against Chelsea.

“We have spoken about that since Sunday. We have been a bit too erratic in our performances this season. We have to be more diligent and we can’t afford to let our standards slip now.

“It will be a hard contest. We both played on Sunday so it’s going to be physically challenging for both sides and neither team will want to lose.”