Hope Powell has praised Meg Walsh’s progress and anticipates her goalkeeper will have another busy 90 minutes when Albion head to Arsenal in the WSL tonight.
Walsh became the first goalkeeper in the League’s history to make 500 saves, a landmark she surpassed during Sunday’s goalless draw against Chelsea.
Powell said, “She had an amazing game and has really grown as a player and developed. She’s enjoying herself too which is important.
“Her distribution has got better, she owns that back line and talks incessantly but in a good way. Long may it continue, she is such an important player for us.”
Tonight’s task against the league leaders is arguably tougher than Chelsea for an Albion side beaten in all six of their previous WSL meetings with the Gunners, but Powell says holding the champions has given her squad confidence.
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“It’s a springboard for what is another demanding game,” she added. “We will need to be resolute again because we won’t have a lot of the ball. It’s about trying to be organised and retaining possession better. We’ve played Arsenal enough times to know what they are about - we’ll need to match them all over the pitch as best we can.
“No one expected us to get a result on Sunday except us so it gives us confidence going into tonight’s game. We’ve got to draw heart from that and our position in the league compared to this time last season, and kick on.”
Powell confirmed that Albion are unlikely to bring in further players before the WSL transfer deadline today.
“I am really pleased with Julia Zigiotti and Emma Kullberg, they have been really good additions already during this window. We went in for some others who we were unfortunate not to get so we’re 99.9% unlikely to bring anyone else and we will work with the players we’ve got.”