Skinner: It's a wonderful way to finish the season
Manchester United Women's head coach Marc Skinner believes that his side’s trip to Chelsea on the final day of the season is a “wonderful opportunity” to showcase the progress made over the last year.
United enter Sunday’s WSL fixture against Emma Hayes’s team with Champions League qualification still a possibility.
The Reds currently sit fourth in the table, two points behind neighbours Manchester City. Skinner and co need a win at Chelsea and then to hope for a favour from Reading against City in order to have a chance of securing a place in the European competition for 2022/23, by finishing in the division's top three.
“I’d love to win that game for us,” he said during his pre-match press conference on Friday, ahead of our trip to Kingsmeadow.
“If we want to be a top, top team, we have got to not worry about Chelsea. We are going to try and win that game.”
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The Reds' head coach was also quick to praise the Blues who, on their side, will be aiming to secure a third consecutive WSL title with victory on Sunday.
He said: “I think Chelsea, with the resilience they have shown, are the best team in the country over the last year.
“Chelsea are going into this game as favourites. They’re at home, and they need to win the title.”
He added: “Of course, we want to win three points, we want to play against the best teams in this country and go toe-to-toe with them.
“We know the challenge we face; we know how good they can be, but what a wonderful way to finish the season for us.”
With the final game of his first season in charge fast approaching, United Women's head coach shared the pride he has in his team's development over the course of the campaign and is now targeting further improvement as we move forward into the weekend and beyond.
“I think we have progressed,” he said. “But now we need to make the psychological jumps to be in those [competitive] zones all the time.
“We’d be disappointed [to miss out on the Champions League] because we have high standards, but all we can do is focus on what we can do on Sunday, which is trying to beat a wonderful team in Chelsea.”
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The boss also issued an update on our latest team news ahead of the trip down south.
“Everyone is in, so I am able to pick for probably the first time from the full squad. It is looking good for the last game.
“[There is] no fresh doubt, apart from of course Aoife Mannion and Millie [Turner]. But apart from that, everyone else is available.”