London City Lionesses prepare for Princes Park clash against Liverpool

This Sunday will see the London City Lionesses take on league leaders Liverpool at Princes Park.

The Lionesses will be looking to bounce back from a difficult result against Bristol City last weekend when the visitors were able to come away with a 3-2 win.

Speaking on the result, manager Melissa Phillips had this to say:

“Every game is a fantastic learning opportunity,” said Phillips, “when we come into the team room on Monday, there's always an aspect from the game, or about ourselves, that we can learn from and implement.

“That's real credit to the group- their drive to learn, grow, compete and succeed. I'm fortunate to work with a very driven staff and group of players who want to continue achieving and chipping away towards our mission.”

Reflecting on the performance and the result, full-back Lucy Fitzgerald had this to say:

“It was a tough game, but I think as a team we created a lot of chances, and we played some of our most threatening football this season.

“It’s just about taking those chances and then being disciplined as a team to not concede the goals we did, and if we can do both of those things, we’ll improve as a team.

“That’s the main takeaway for me from the Bristol game, being more disciplined, and making it count in the small moments to make sure we get the win next time."

The game was a memorable one for both Lily Agg and Alli Palisch, with both players getting on the scoresheet for the first time this season.

“We've had goals come from players in the starting line-up and from players coming off the bench as game changers, and that poses different challenges for teams because we're so capable of scoring from every position on the pitch,” said Phillips.

“That's a credit to the strength and the depth of our squad, alongside how competitive it is in training. That’s what's really driven us to be in the position that we are in the table.

“But we'll continue to remain focused on our growth and create a really competitive environment that stretches the players and allows them to be prepared for Sunday.”This strength throughout the team can also be seen through the strong relationships that Fitzgerald and the rest of the backline have been able to build together.

“We've got a mix of different experience levels within our group,” said Fitzgerald, “but we've really built a connection together, and we've just kept growing, despite our different levels of experience and our different personalities.

“We’re always able to give each other the confidence to build as a unit, so we can give the rest of the team 100% and go out and express ourselves on the pitch.”

This strength in depth though is going to be crucial when coming up against a side as strong as Liverpool.

“We definitely take confidence and belief through who we are as a collective unit,” said Phillips, “it's a team that is very together, very driven and it's a team that wants to get out on the training ground and work hard every single day."

For Fitzgerald and the rest of the players, they know that Sunday’s game will be among the toughest they’ve played in the league so far.

“We know it's going to be a difficult game, they’re obviously top of the league, and they're really dangerous going forward,” said Fitzgerald.

“But as a team we believe in ourselves, we believe that we can test any opponent. We can take confidence from the first game of the season, but we know both teams have changed, and we know we've grown as a team.

“We're going to take that into the game and believe in ourselves, and I think that that will give us the base to go and play our game.”

One big advantage for City in the game will be the support of all the fans inside Princes Park.

“We need all of our fans out there on Sunday,” said Phillips, “we want to see our academy players, our academy families, alongside friends and supporters of the club.”

“There aren’t many opportunities left to catch us at Princes Park this season, so we'd love the support, it's been fantastic throughout the season and really spurred us on to some of the positive results that we've had at home.”

The London City Lionesses take on Liverpool on Sunday the 6th of March at Princes Park! Click the link to get your tickets now!