Howard Keeping All The Focus On Chelsea
- A WSL fixture against Chelsea comes next for LCFC Women
- The Foxes return to King Power Stadium in a 3pm kick-off
- Defender Sophie Howard discusses the players’ preparations
- Match tickets remain available to purchase online HERE
As the Barclays FA Women’s Super League season moves towards its climax, the Foxes face a testing run of fixtures beginning against the current WSL champions at King Power Stadium.
Though recent results have not gone City’s way, they have been able to take time to reflect before putting plans in place with the aim of achieving a more positive performance and result from their next league outing.
“First of all, we recovered from the Everton game, but we could use these last weeks to focus on the game against Chelsea,” Howard told the media earlier this week, discussing the short break from action.
“The focus initially was on recovery, but then the hard work was put in to make sure that we go into the game sharp, fresh and ready to go.
“After a spell of losing a couple of games, a break like that can help. You also want to stay in that rhythm, because the beauty of it is that we have a new opportunity every weekend. It did us the world of good that little break that weekend. Now we’re back into league action and ready for Chelsea on Sunday.
“Chelsea are a top side, we’re well aware of their quality, individually and as a group, but we go into the game no differently from any other and that doesn’t affect how we prepare for the game. We want to go into the game with confidence.”
Emma Hayes’ side were relentless in their pursuit of goals when the two sides last met in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup last month, and the Scotland international is expecting the same level of quality from the London club, as they hunt down Arsenal at the top of the standings.
However, with mitigating factors at play, the 28-year-old believes the team were able to take several pointers from that 7-0 defeat, in order to help avoid a repeat of a difficult afternoon in the capital.
“Obviously, a couple of weeks back we played them in the cup,” she continued. “The result didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but if you break the game down, we had very good spells, especially at the beginning before the sending off.
“We put a really good performance in for the opening 20 minutes and I think that’s what we want to build on. We’re aware that we conceded a lot of goals and probably goals that we could have prevented.
“Unfortunately, we were down to 10 players and that had an effect as well. But for us the main thing is to focus on the positives from that game and what we take from it to build on and take into the next game. We’re in a good place to implement that on Sunday.
“I think we have a point to prove to ourselves more than anyone else. We shouldn’t lose against any side by seven goals. We take everything into consideration that happened that day. We know they are a top side and if you give them space, they will put goals past you.
“But the good thing is that we are aware of that and we’ve work on how to prevent that and also how we can use our strengths to put the game on them.”
Howard: The Break Has Benefitted Us
LCFC Women defender Sophie Howard shares her pre-match thoughts with the media ahead of tackling Chelsea at King Power Stadium on Sunday.
Howard has featured in all but one of Leicester’s 17 top-flight matches, scoring her first league goal for the Club during their maiden WSL success on Filbert Way in December 2021.
That result was backed up with another home triumph against Brighton & Hove Albion, with the feeling among the players that the crowd were able to roar them on to victory.
The former Reading centre-back enthused: “It means everything. We’ve experienced in previous games at home at King Power Stadium the support of the fans, not only what it means to us, but also how much they give us the edge, how much they can push us throughout the 90 minutes.
“I think we are strongest at home with that support behind us. It motivates us even more to inspire the people who come, to make sure they come again in the next game. There’s no better opportunity to come on Sunday and let us inspire you.”
All times BST.