Bristol Academy WFC

After their last gasp victory over Doncaster Rovers Belles the Vixen’s now look forward to welcoming reigning FA WSL Champions Arsenal Ladies to Bristol on Wednesday.

Looking forward to the game manager Mark Sampson spoke to bristolacademywfc.co.uk to share his thoughts on the upcoming match which is being shown live on ESPN.

“Welcoming the league Champions to Bristol is always a special occasion and one which everyone at the club is be looking forward to. Arsenal is a great team with fantastic players and an excellent manager so we know we face a big challenge on Wednesday, but it is a challenge we are ready to embrace.

The extended break after the Doncaster game has meant we could adapt the training schedule to make sure the players had the opportunity to re-charge their batteries giving everyone a real boost ahead of what will be a very challenging spell of matches. We have had a challenging start to the season with every match becoming a learning experience which I believe has really allowed the players to grow.

Now the team is in a strong moment playing with confidence and enjoying their football. As a young group it is important the players focus on making sure the standards they set on a daily basis are very high. At the moment the players are keeping their standards very high which combined with their desire to improve both individually and collectively is allowing the team to produce a consistent high level of performance.

Going into any match against Arsenal you know to give yourself the opportunity to be successful you need to produce a performance as close to perfect as possible, that is our objective. We will need to do our best to work as a group to disrupt Arsenal’s possession and make sure we show the confidence to express ourselves when we have the ball.

It is another exciting step on the Bristol Academy journey and a step we hope to share with as many of our supporters as possible. The support we have had so far this season has been fantastic and really made a big difference to the players. The team love playing at home because the supporters give them the extra energy to never give in and always push for more.

The match against Arsenal is live on ESPN and is a pay on the gate match kicking off at 7:45pm. A big crowd is expected so supporters should plan to arrive early.