Powell used the recent penalty shootout victory over Arsenal as an example of what can be achieved by a supposed underdog, and is guarding her players against complacency heading into the match with the FA Women’s Championship side.
She said, “It will be a tough and gritty game. Any side you play from the Championship is trying to prove a point, so we have to prepare as we normally would. We must consider it as a big game, and we want to go in with that mentality to get the job done.
“Any team that’s in a lower league has nothing to lose. Arguably we are supposed to win the game, but they will go for it.
“Heading into the Arsenal game, everybody in this media room would’ve thought they would win, but anything is possible.”
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The Albion manager spoke about this hectic week for the side, and says today’s game will be a good opportunity to mix up the squad ahead of the next league match away at Manchester United on Sunday.
“The Conti Cup gives us an opportunity to give minutes to players and I’ll be doing that as much as possible tonight.
“It gives us an opportunity to rest players for Sunday’s game. As much as we’d like to stay in it and do well, it’s an opportunity to blood new players in.
“We would have preferred them to have time to recover, but we want to use this game in the best way possible.”
Powell also gave an update on Ellie Brazil after she came off injured during the match against Birmingham, and hopes the problem is not as serious as originally feared.
“We’re waiting for the results of the scan, and it doesn’t look good. Her knee swelled up quite badly after the game, and she was in a lot of pain afterwards.
“She was quite brave to carry on for a few minutes afterwards and had a good go. We hope it’s nothing too serious, but we’ll have to wait and see.”