Man Utd boss urges team to ‘leave everything on the field’ ahead of huge weekend in title race

Manchester United travel to London this weekend top of the Women’s Super League, however, with Chelsea at home to out-of-form Brighton on Wednesday, just one point could seperate the sides heading into the huge clash at Kingsmeadow.

Skinner’s side enter the game in scintillating form after an Alessia Russo hat trick saw them thrash Leicester City 5-1 at Leigh Sports Village to extend their unbeaten league run to eight games, having not lost since Sunday’s opponents Chelsea took a 3-1 victory back in November.

One player who missed that defeat against the Blues was key defender Ona Batlle, while the aforementioned Russo was also withdrawn due to “managing minutes” after she had recently returned from injury and Skinner admitted their inclusion this weekend could make a huge difference.

“It will be a huge help to have them for sure but there are a lot of other players who can help us aim to win this game, of course. We can’t leave anything on the field. We need to make sure we have to put everything into this fixture. What we have to do is make sure everyone is absolutely top of their game.” said the United boss.

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“They are massive for us (Batlle and Russo). You know how big Ona is and Alessia especially is a huge part of what we do. So if they are selected it will be a massive help for us.

“Alessia is such a really great person. That is the lens I always lean to first because you only see the product of the person on the field when they perform they way she does because she puts everything into training and she is ever present. She shows exactly what she does on the field in training. Her ability to hold the ball up, her ability to turn and link play and her ability in the box.

“I think we will see more of this as she goes through her professional career, but we will see her have much more variance in her shots from outside the box because she has the most thunderous shot. What you see is what you get with Alessia and that is very much back to her best in the finishing stakes, which is great for us and hopefully good timing coming into a very tough fixture this weekend”.

With the duo both out of contract in the summer Skinner was also asked how important qualification to the UEFA Champions League would be in regards to keeping them - and goalkeeper Mary Earps - at the club.

“We have two top players who want to be competing there (Champions League) but the whole reason I am here is to try and achieve that anyway. There’s nobody in this club that isn’t trying to aim for that.

“I wouldn’t say it goes hand in hand (with them signing new contracts), I think if you ask both players, they are both very happy with Manchester United and very happy with what we are doing. There are other factors within that, but that is always going to be our aim and those two players especially will have a big say in whether we achieve those targets.”