Spurs Women v London City Lionesses – Karen and Juan’s preview

Spurs Women begin their Continental League Cup campaign tomorrow (Wednesday 7 October) against London City Lionesses at The Hive, kick-off is 3.30pm.

The draw for the Conti Cup, which occurred last month, placed us in Group B along with Chelsea, Arsenal and tomorrow’s visitors with the six teams finishing top of their group progressing to the quarter-finals, alongside two best runners-up.

In search of our first win of the season, Karen Hills and Juan Amoros’ side are hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Manchester City when we take on full-time outfit London City Lionesses who sit 10th in the FA Women’s Championship at The Hive tomorrow afternoon.

“It’s yet another hard game for us against London City Lionesses,” Karen commented. “We simply can’t underestimate any team - they’ve had a similar start to us with one point from their first few games this season, so they’ll be looking for the win just as much as us. It’s a good opportunity for us to hopefully show what we can do because we know what this team is capable of and we haven’t been able to show all the qualities we possess so far this season.”

Juan added: “I want to see our players dominating the game tomorrow and getting three points in what is one of the toughest groups in this competition. We can’t be complacent, we’ve competed against Championship sides and we know from our own experience just how difficult and competitive that league is so we’re expecting another tough match against London City Lionesses, who are a very physical side with some experienced players.”

Midfielder Anna Filbey, who scored her first goal in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) against City on Sunday (4 October) – the only goal scored by a Spurs Women player so far this season, says the squad must continue to work hard if we are to turn the tide after a disappointing start to our campaign.

“We just have to keep building,” Anna asserted after the City defeat. “We’ve had a tough run of games, but we want to be up there, and we want to compete in these games. We’ve got to keep sticking to the game plan and keep working hard. We’re building every week, so we’ll reflect on it and we’ll go on.

“Obviously I’m buzzing (to score), but it’s dampened a little bit because of the loss. The result wasn’t good enough, but we’ll build on this performance and we’ll go again.”

Following Wednesday’s afternoon Conti Cup action, Spurs take on Manchester United in the WSL three days later on Saturday (10 October) at The Hive. Kick-off is 12.30pm and fans can watch us live in action on BT Sport and The FA Player.

Secure your copy of the official matchday programme for Saturday’s fixture against Manchester United now and put yourself in with a chance of winning a shirt signed by the Spurs Women squad here.