Brighton's Rianna Jarrett can spoil Rehanne Skinner’s and Alex Morgan's big day at Tottenham

By Shania Bedi

Spurs will be desperate to win their first game of the season as they welcome home fans back to The Hive against Brighton in the Women’s Super League this weekend.

The North London side will begin a new era under recently appointed Rehanne Skinner who will be looking to turn Tottenham’s bitterly disappointing season around.

Brighton will be hoping to build on their confidence from their last league match against West Ham where Rianna Jarrett’s goal was enough to secure their second win of the season.

However, Hope Powell has insisted her players will need to be switched on if they are to beat Tottenham this weekend.

“Tottenham have a talented team, players that have played in the Champions League and players that have a lot of experience.

“If we are to pick up the points, we will have to be at our very best.”

Brighton’s season so far

Powell’s side have enjoyed a better start to the season than Spurs, however, they have still suffered a number of disappointing results.

Brighton’s last league win against West Ham was a win they had been waiting for since the opening match of the season with an important win against Birmingham City.

Jarrett’s goal against The Hammers could be a glimpse of her potential as the forward looks to find her feet in the league since joining Brighton in the summer.

The Seagulls have been longing for an attacking threat this season, Powell’s side have the third-lowest goalscoring record this campaign, with the head coach insisting that they need a reliable goalscorer.

"That’s what she has been brought in to do [Jarrett], score goals, by our own admission we don’t score enough so hopefully that will be good for her confidence going forward.”

Powell’s side have somewhat proved that they are a hard team to breakdown this season. Brighton held out for an important 0-0 draw against Manchester City early on in the campaign and proved again that they were hard to breakdown against West Ham, who had 17 shots compared to Brighton’s six, who managed to keep a clean sheet and come out on top.

After suffering a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa in their most recent match, Powell’s side will be looking to bounce back against a struggling Spurs side who sit second bottom of the table.

Tottenham’s Season so far

Spurs signing Alex Morgan this summer was undoubtedly a huge statement for the club’s ambitions going forward.

This season looked promising for the Lilywhites who added a World Cup winner to their attacking front as well as already having Rianna Dean who was the club’s top scorer last season. However, both are yet to score a goal since the campaign started.

Tottenham are winless so far but could be given a huge boost by the return of a section of fans at The Hive, alongside recently appointed head coach Rehanne Skinner’s first game in charge for the club.

Skinner left her role as assistant head coach of the England Lionesses to join the club after Juan Amoros and Karen Hills were relieved of their roles just two months after signing new contracts until 2022.

The new Spurs head coach told the club’s media team how she is determined to ‘get the ground running’ against Brighton and revealed her excitement of working with the current squad.

“It’s just such an exciting opportunity for me. It’s really important to mention that the squad that’s here already has got huge potential and for me.”