‘Absolutely everything to play for’ – Whiteley keen for strong finish from Liverpool

Liverpool’s interim head coach Amber Whiteley says that her side have everything to play for going into the final game of the season.

The Reds travel to Stamford Bridge to face Barclays Women’s Super League champions Chelsea on the final day. Liverpool may need a win to secure a finish in the top half of the table.

Liverpool suffered an unfortunate 2-1 defeat on their last visit to Chelsea in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup semi-finals and interim boss Whiteley says that her side can return to South West London with confidence this weekend.

“We take a lot of confidence from that cup game,” Whiteley said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “It was a really good performance, especially in that first half when we went toe-to-toe with them. We had good momentum.

“We take lots of positives from that game. This is another important game for us this weekend in terms of picking up points in our league position, so there’s absolutely everything to play for.”

Chelsea won the title with two games to spare. Whiteley offered her congratulations to The Blues but says that her own side must look to end the campaign strongly this weekend.

She said “Congratulations to Chelsea and to Sonia [Bompastor] for the season that they’ve had. Their league form has been absolutely incredible, so full credit to them.

“For Sonia to take the team to another level after enjoying so much success over several seasons with Emma [Hayes], full credit to her, she’s done a great job.

“We want to finish the season strongly and give a really good account of ourselves this weekend, that’s really important.”

Reflecting on the season as a whole, Whiteley said that while Liverpool have not reached the desired highs, there have been many positives to build on.

She said “Overall, it’s not the season that we would have wanted but there are still lots of positives to take. The response from the girls that I’ve seen over the last 10-11 weeks [since Matt Beard left] has been absolutely brilliant; we’ve made some real good progress in the last couple of months.

“Lots of positives to take and lots to work on going forward into next season for sure.”

Liverpool’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Chelsea kicks-off at 12.30pm on Saturday afternoon.

About The Author

Daniel Pentland

I am the editor and owner of the WSL Full-Time brand which I launched in 2018.

I am an accredited journalist with the FWA, SJA and AIPS. I have reported from various levels of men’s and women’s elite football since 2016.