WSL survival the main aim for Leicester City says Miquel ahead of FA Cup clash | OneFootball

Leicester City manager Amandine Miquel says that a run in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup would be nice but Barclays Women’s Super League survival is her side’s primary target this season.

The Foxes begin their involvement in this season’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup with a fourth round tie against Stoke City at Meadow Lane on Sunday afternoon.

When speaking to the media ahead of the match, Leicester City boss Miquel said that her players want to do well in the competition but highlighted the fact that Barclays Women’s Super League survival is the main aim.

“The players know that it is a prestigious competition but they also know that we have work to do in the WSL,” Miquel said. “That’s also important because we have to stay in that league. A good cup run would look nice but in the end, we have to stay in that league, that’s our main objective right now.”

This weekend will bring Miquel’s first taste of Adobe Women’s FA Cup football and she admits that the pressure is on after Leicester City reached the semi-finals last season.

She said “It’s a very famous competition and we are happy to hopefully get going this weekend. We want to do our best; last season they did very well, so there’s a bit of pressure for me because it’s not easy to reach a semi-final.

“We take things game-by-game but there are not many games before you get to a semi-final. We will do our best to compete in every game and try to go as far as we can.”

This weekend’s opponents Stoke City play their football in the third tier but Miquel says that Leicester City have prepared for the contest like they would for any game.

She said “We’ve managed to see a few games, watch a few videos, so we analyse them like we do if it was Chelsea or Manchester City. We will play this game the same as we would against any opponent. We are going to take it very seriously because we know we want to go far in the competition. We won’t go into it thinking it’s going to be an easy game.”

Leicester City’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Stoke City is scheduled to kick-off at 1pm on Sunday afternoon. As a result of the ongoing freezing conditions, a local referee will inspect the Meadow Lane pitch on Saturday afternoon to determine if the game can go ahead.