- Lydia Bedford gives her thoughts ahead of facing Manchester City Women
- LCFC Women meet the Citizens in Sunday’s WSL fixture (2pm kick-off)
- Both sides have plenty to play for at opposite ends of the table
- Focus remains on ensuring the Foxes are in the top flight next season, she says
Manchester City await in the first of those three fixtures, a daunting task following on from a difficult run of results prior to the international break, which saw Leicester tackle the league’s top three sides in three of their last four games.
While several players linked up with their international team-mates, time off from competitive games at club level has aided the whole squad’s ability to reset and recuperate heading into Sunday’s clash against the Citizens, a 2pm kick-off at Academy Stadium.
Addressing the media during Thursday afternoon’s press conference, the manager commented on how they have adapted the players' schedule to suit the needs of the team.
Bedford said: “We’ve took a slightly different approach to February when we tried to really push the group physically to raise our standards for what we knew would be a hard run-in of games in March. We took a more relaxed approach this international break.
“It’s been about managing where players are in the mental fatigue of the season when we had players missing. Since everyone’s been back in the building, it’s given us a really good opportunity to start preparing for Man City.
“We’d had a real tough run of games and you’ve got to balance the players who are getting the opportunity to go away playing international football, which gives them a bit of a lift. For me, it was about making sure that the players who are with us also had something to look forward to in that time. They spent it together, which is really important.”
Sitting 11th in the table as things stand, occupying a seven-point cushion to Birmingham City, the aim of securing top-flight status for a second successive season remains for the Foxes, who were promoted from the FA Women’s Championship in 2021.
After facing Gareth Taylor’s side this weekend, the Foxes play their final home game at King Power Stadium against Reading on Sunday 1 May, before concluding the campaign away to Tottenham Hotspur a week later.
The 34-year-old continued: “From our perspective, we definitely see the Reading and Spurs games as the two that we’ll really target to try and compete and get points from, which hasn’t really changed.
“We know what it looks like in terms of a Birmingham perspective and the points that they are chasing. It’s still very much firmly in our hands and we know we’ve got a tough opponent in Man City this weekend.
“We’re looking for progression from the previous experiences we’ve had against Arsenal and Chelsea. If we can show that on the pitch, that will give the players a lift going into those final two games. We know that trying to pick up points over the last three will be key and if we can go and take three points in one of those games then that probably puts the season to bed.
“We want to be in a position where we come to the final game of the season and it’s in our hands and that’s the focus of the group.”
Their opponents look to be hitting top form at exactly the right moment, timing their pursuit of a third-place finish to perfection by winning five straight WSL games and keeping a clean sheet in all five.
Man City also booked their place in next month’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final last time out and lifted the other domestic cup trophy – the Continental Tyres League Cup – in March.
Bedford is aware of the clear threats that they will pose having faced the Citizens earlier in the year and has clear plans in place to try and execute the visitors’ own game plan.
“They are a fantastic side, and in form, they have won nine of their previous games,” the ex-England youth coach analysed. “We’ve played them in a Conti Cup game in January where we put out a large part of our Academy, so we’ve got an idea.
“They have a clear style of football which we know means that they will look to possess the ball and use both central and wide areas to penetrate. They’ve got great threats in players like Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly, who is obviously back. We know they will be up for this weekend, and we expect them to have a lot of the ball.
“But I think what we are looking for our team to continue to do is work on our shape and our resilience and look how long we can stay in games for and how we can hurt teams when we pinch the ball back in different moments.”
All times BST.