Rita Guarino spent the pre-match week insisting West Ham United will not be doing sums as they prepare to face Liverpool on Sunday, saying her priority is steady improvement rather than a calculation of points.
Guarino, who took over just before Christmas on an 18-month deal after Rehanne Skinner was sacked, has overseen league wins over Leicester City and Brighton and draws with Manchester United and London City since arriving, but she told reporters this week the club is focused on building identity and consistency.
The immediate stakes are plain: West Ham sit 11th in the Women’s Super League and are four points clear of Leicester City, who hold a game in hand, with only three league fixtures remaining for the Hammers. Guarino said she wants the team to grow through the process, to be consistent in preparation and in the principles they ask of players, and to take the season game by game rather than fixate on the table.
Liverpool arrive off a better recent run, having won three of their last five WSL matches and taken every one of their last four home games at St Helens Stadium. They also have an Adobe Women’s FA Cup semi-final at home to Brighton & Hove Albion next month, a chance, in the words of defender Alejandra Bernabe, to try to win something. Bernabe added that Liverpool are in a very good place, full of confidence, buoyed by great support from their fans and by her own return from injury.
There is history between the teams this season: the sides played out a 2-2 draw at Chigwell Construction Stadium earlier in the campaign, a game in which Beata Olsson’s late equaliser rescued a point for Liverpool. live text coverage of a separate meeting also recorded an own goal by Cornelia Kapocs that had given West Ham a 1-0 lead in that contest. Before the April international break West Ham were rescued by an extraordinary nearly 25-yard volley from Oona Siren to level with London City, a reminder of how fine margins have been.
The tension here is straightforward. Guarino’s process-oriented message sits uneasily with the arithmetic of relegation pressure: West Ham have won just one of their last five league matches heading into the Liverpool game, and with only three fixtures left any dropped points make the gap to the bottom group more precarious. Liverpool’s recent form and unbeaten run at St Helens sharpen the test — Bernabe’s optimism will meet West Ham’s stated desire to find an identity on the pitch.
Guarino has asked for time to shape a team but she has also warned that survival is the immediate priority; she accepts the club has ambition but stresses the need to stay in the league first. That balancing act — steadying a side while results are required — will be measured most clearly on Sunday when Liverpool host West Ham at St Helens Stadium after the international break.
The clearest question left for West Ham is whether Guarino’s process can produce immediate consistency: a resolve to play the right way and, crucially, to take points away from a Liverpool side enjoying form and home momentum. How the team responds at St Helens will determine whether the coach’s long‑term project survives the short, sharp pressure of a season closing fast.
