And that is quite literally that for Friday’s football blog. Thanks for reading and emailing and all that. Good luck to your team this weekend and see you soon for more (very soon – the 2023/24 Premier League starts on 12 August …). Bye for now.
Updated
Courtesy of the content powerhouse that is PA Media, a more detailed write-up below of the Emma Hayes press conference from earlier, looking to this weekend’s WSL denouement:
Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes says it is “business as usual” for her side as they prepare for Saturday’s Super League finale, looking to wrap up another title.
Before the season’s concluding round of fixtures, the Blues - who have won the WSL five times and for each of the last three seasons - are two points clear of second-placed Manchester United, with a goal difference better by five.
Chelsea, aiming to complete a league and FA Cup double, play bottom side Reading away, while Marc Skinner’s United are at Liverpool. Hayes said: “I think back to every campaign, we’ve only won the league by a couple of points at best, maybe (with) a game (to spare) somewhere along the line, so this is just business as usual for us.
“The preparation is what we’d prepared for at the very beginning of the season. It’s not like we’ve won leagues comfortably in the past - so nothing is different from our perspective. We’ve always known from previous experience it goes to the last game.”
A win to seal the title would be a seventh successive league victory for Chelsea, who have scored 24 goals in the past six games, conceding once.
Reading, meanwhile, have lost each of their last five games, conceding 16 times across their last four. The Royals pulled off a shock 1-0 win at home against Chelsea last season, and Hayes said: “We don’t think about that. What we think about is we are exactly where we want to be – a position to control the outcome.
“I have to keep reminding the team we’re 90 minutes away from winning the title and all of my energy’s focused on doing that.” (PA Media)
