No extra motivation needed for West Ham when they face Spurs says Skinner | OneFootball

West Ham United head coach Rehanne Skinner says that her side need no extra motivation for this weekend’s London derby against Tottenham Hotspur.

The two sides are set to contest their latest Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at The Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

West Ham United have been impressive in their last four games and they now have the opportunity to claim derby spoils against neighbours Spurs. When speaking in the pre-match press conference, West Ham United boss Skinner said that no extra motivation is needed for this weekend’s game.

“After the last four games, we’ve come away feeling like we’ve really given it a good go and given a good account of ourselves,” Skinner said. “That naturally rolls itself over to being really keen to play the next game and wanting to get back on the pitch.

“We are at home, it’s a London derby; there are so many incentives for the game that this group don’t need many motivational factors or need to talk about those things, they just know.

“They are enjoying playing together and that’s coming out in how we are going about these games. Often, when you get to that place with a team, you don’t need many motivational factors. It’ll just come naturally and we will be ready to play at the weekend.”

Spurs arrive in East London on the back of a five-match losing run. West Ham United may be slight favourites to win this weekend’s fixture but Skinner expects a real challenge.

She said “It’s a London derby and anything can happen. Everybody wants to win those games and in their situation, they’ll want to get back to winning games and getting points.

“You can never expect everything all of the time, you have to expect the unexpected. Regardless of what state they’re in at the minute in terms of results and how they are playing, we fully-expect a difficult game. Robert [Vilahamn] will be working hard to make sure they are focused on the game against us.

“At the end of the day, it’s a London derby and we need to make sure that we do our bit to get the points at home in-front of our fans.”

West Ham United are progressing game-on-game and becoming more consistent in their performances. Skinner says that time has been the biggest factor in the growth of her team.

She said “It’s always frustrating when you’re performing well but don’t get the points. That’s the bit where you’ve got to be really measured and consistent within the team. There are so many things that we are doing well, so it’s important to highlight those and keep learning and developing.

“On the whole, there’s belief and confidence in the team and we’ve got a clear understanding of what we are trying to do and how people sit within that. It helps players to be more effective and I think every player that comes in knows their role. You need games to be able to gel and build those connections and you can’t do that in the first five games of the season when you’ve made such big changes to the squad, it takes time.

“Overall, we’ve made significant progress over the last 18 months. We are in a good place and we want to finish the season really strong.”

West Ham United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur kicks-off at 12pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.