Lia Walti on squad depth for London derby

Lia Walti says it will be beneficial to go into this weekend’s game against Chelsea with a strong squad, full of more depth than in previous matches against Emma Hayes’ side.

“It’s definitely true that, in the past year especially, we had a pretty small squad when we went into the games against Chelsea,” she explained. “Of course, when you can bring on players, like Chelsea did last season against us, it’s obviously really difficult to keep defending that with the same 11 who started the game.

“You could see, for example, Man United this season away, if you can bring on great players like Katie, Caitlin, Cloe... it’s going to give a boost to the team and we can feel the energy coming from the bench.

“For the opponent, it’s not nice to see players like that coming on in the 70th minute, so I do think it’s going to be a huge difference for us this season to have the options on the bench, the players who can change the game, a lot of goalscorers in the team and I’m really pleased to have that because it also means for the players who start the game that they’re going to have somebody who can come on and go in harder.

“It’s not that you save your energy for 90 minutes, but if you know that you don’t really have the options, then it’s a little bit different on the pitch and you maybe manage it a little bit more than always going and going. It’s great and I think it’s going to probably be a difference for us this season in top games.”

On the importance of Sunday’s London derby, Lia said: “The season is still very young but we all know that these games can make all the difference in the end. I think we did well with the results against City and United but it’s going to be an even bigger game against Chelsea.

“They’re three points ahead of us and it can’t really get much bigger. The games we’ve had in the past mostly were pretty tight games. It’s going to be about who is better on the day and maybe the subs are going to make a big change for both teams.

“I’m excited, I’m really looking forward and I think we’re having a great momentum with our team right now. We’re going to focus on ourselves and, for sure, in front of our home crowd, there is only one goal for us and we want to win that game.”