Sonia Bompastor salutes her Chelsea aspect for ‘big’ win over Arsenal

Sonia Bompastor hailed her Chelsea group as being in a “good place” to win the Ladies’s Tremendous League title for the sixth yr in succession after a “big” 1-0 victory over Arsenal on Sunday.

Guro Reiten’s 84th-minute penalty and Katie McCabe’s sending-off for dissent within the aftermath was the distinction for the Blues at Stamford Bridge, who ended Arsenal’s unbeaten run below new supervisor Renée Slegers whereas sustaining their very own. “By way of psychological components, the win is big, however there are plenty of video games to be performed,” stated the Chelsea supervisor. “If we hold the fitting mentality, if we hold nearly all of the gamers out there, we’re in an excellent place however you by no means know what can occur in soccer.”

Bompastor additionally praised Naomi Girma, with the world report signing introduced to followers earlier than kick-off. “I’m actually happy to have Naomi with us,” stated the supervisor. “She’s a extremely proficient participant, she is going to convey plenty of high quality to the squad even when the squad is already very proficient. Having Naomi be a part of the group will give us much more choices. It was the proper afternoon by way of the announcement and the consequence.”

Slegers described the 10-point hole between Arsenal and the league leaders as “a a lot larger mountain to climb” however didn’t concede the title. “We had our slips firstly of the season, and also you by no means know when different groups are going to slide,” she stated. “We are going to carry on taking part in our video games and successful our video games, that’s all we are able to do. We knew it was necessary for us to win if we needed to maintain tempo within the title race and we didn’t do this – however you by no means know what the longer term holds.”

Slegers, who had her interim function made everlasting this month, expressed her frustration on the penalty choice. “I’ve seen footage, I see Kim [Little] will get the ball first however it’s not from me to touch upon. We must always have positioned ourselves higher behind the ball to cease the counterattack,” she stated.

“The stakes are getting greater in girls’s soccer so I believe we’d like that within the sport,” stated Slegers regarding the potential introduction of VAR. “I additionally suppose it’s necessary that the sport is enticing for followers and VAR does sluggish issues down, however I believe it will be good for the ladies’s sport.”