After a few shock recent results in the Women’s Super League, Brighton Women’s Kayleigh Green says “anything can happen” as the Seagulls face Arsenal Women live on Sky Sports.
Brighton once again stopped Chelsea Women from taking maximum points at the People’s Pension Stadium, drawing 0-0 on Sunday. It follows their 2-1 win against the Blues at home last season, the champions’ only league defeat.
Hope Powell’s side face another tough test this week when they face current league leaders Arsenal, themselves having just dipped in form over recent weeks. It includes a 2-0 defeat to bottom side Birmingham Women, and not winning in any competition since December 12.
But for Green, she knows that football can produce the strangest of results, and believes Brighton can run the Gunners close when they meet live on Sky Sports on Thursday.
“Myself, the squad and the staff were happy to turn to look at that performance and take a point,” she said in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports.
“If you look at the overall performance, I think it’s one of our better performances over the last four or five games. We look back at the Leicester game and we didn’t perform as well so something we wanted to do was get back to what we know best and that was being hard to beat.
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“Something that we’ve had for the last two or three seasons is we’ve been a team that clubs come to and we’re hard to break down and fundamentally, that’s not what we’ve been over last four games.
“I think we’ve been a bit exposed at times, whether that’s because we try to play a little bit more, but we just went back to basics. We’re a team that’s hard to break down and that’s what we did against Chelsea and that’s what we’re going to take with us.
“Every single person that stepped on that pitch against Chelsea – and that’s not just the starters, that’s the finishers and the supporters – everybody had a job to do. It’s the support from the stands, the support from the bench and just supporting on the pitch. And that’s what we did, we went out there and every single player, even when they came on, they knew their jobs and the responsibilities. You can’t take away from the girls the desire and the willingness to give 100 per cent.
“But we don’t want to be that step up against a big team like Chelsea and that’s it, we perform just for them. We want to be able to perform against all the top teams. Now we’ve got Arsenal so for us, we want to get that consistency again and I think that’s the key for us.
“Last time we played them, I think the most difficult thing for us was that as soon as we got the ball, we gave it straight back to them and then we were under attack again. So this time, if we can retain the ball and not make it so transitional, I think they’ll help us.
“And mentally, you have to stay focused. It’s 90 minutes, it’s going be tough, but that’s what subs are there for. The players are there to come on and if you can only give 45, that’s why we have a squad is so everybody can come on, fulfil their role, fulfil their job and hopefully, that’s what we’ll do tomorrow.
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“If you look at Arsenal and you look at us, we’ve taken one point in the last three games and they’ve taken one point as well in the last four games. Arsenal played Birmingham, who are bottom of the table, and Birmingham came away with three points. We play Chelsea and we came away with a point.
“I always say it’s a game of two halves and anything can happen. We could go in after 45 minutes at 0-0 and then come out for the second half and it’s anyone’s game.
“To be honest, Arsenal are going to be coming out and they’re going to want to be wanting three points, they are going to be wanting a performance, I know their manager is definitely going to want that. And it’s the same for us, we want three points and it’s about performance consistency.
“Consistency is massive for us because if you look at the beginning of the season, we had that consistency, we had that run of games and we were holding onto that third position. Then we dropped a little bit more on performance, which is fine because that happens in football.
“Now it’s just about digging in deep and finding ourselves which, from the Chelsea game, we’ve shown that. We just need to take that into this game now on Thursday and like I said, it could be anyone’s game.”
Green enjoying life with Brighton and Wales
It’s clear that Green is passionate about Brighton and what they can achieve. The forward initially joined the club in the summer of 2018 and signed a new deal in June 2021.
Shortly after, she racked up her 50th WSL appearance for the Seagulls, and continues to be a regular for Wales. All in all, Green is in a good spot in her career.
She explained: “I’m loving football at the moment at the club and international. I love it here, the girls are really good bunch and any player that comes into the Brighton environment, it’s so friendly and the girls are amazing. If you can enjoy the environment during the week, you can show that one pitch.
“It’s the same at international, I’m loving it and where I’m at the moment. I had a few injuries just before Christmas and had a virus so I’m just trying to find myself again.
“Man City was my first 90-minute game so now it’s kind of trying to find my rhythm, my game and once I get back to 100 per cent – I’m probably almost there now, which is great – and we got an international camp coming up so being with those girls as well will just lift me and give me that extra push I need.
Anywhere in the front line, to be honest. I’m an attacking player, I’m all about going forward, but I’ll also do my defensive duties. That’s probably one of my strengths is my defensive attributes and how I press very aggressively and I’ll do that for the team for 90 minutes. also played at the back – I’ve played centre back, I’ve played full back, next it’ll be goalie probably. But in the front line is definitely my favourite position.
“With Wales, the World Cup is something that is definitely in our sights right now. Unfortunately, we didn’t make the Euros, but with a new manager and a new system, I think that gives us a new look. It gives us time to prepare for the World Cup and at the moment, we’re performing well.
“For me with Wales, it’s positive and building with Gemma [Grainger], she’s a great manager. She brings something so different as a young manager and I’m positive which is fantastic for us.”
Green on Arsenal vs Brighton: Recent results show anything can happen
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