Rehanne Skinner drops Kirsty Smith injury update ahead of West Ham Women v Liverpool

Rehanne Skinner has confirmed that West Ham United Women will be without Kirsty Smith for their WSL clash with Liverpool.

The Hammers welcome Matt Beard's Reds to the Chigwell Construction Stadium for their first home game of the season on Sunday (29 September) as they look to bounce back from an opening-day defeat to Manchester United.

Although Skinner did reveal that the Irons would be without versatile defender Smith, she was quick to heap praise on Riko Ueki and backed the Japanese forward to cause the Liverpool defence problems.

As quoted by the West Ham website (27 September) she said: "I think when Riko Ueki started to really thrive was towards the end of last season.

"It’s taken a little bit of time to get people in and around her that understand the way that she plays, and I still think we've got some work to do with that, and obviously that's been a focus. 

"Now that we've got everybody in the building, so to speak, we've been trying to make sure that we are connecting those dots a little bit better. Her movement is phenomenal.

"We don't always see it, and we're trying to make sure that we do build those connections across the team a little bit better, and that will then give us, as a collective, more opportunities, because she's capable of assisting as well and she's been effective in that sense."

When is West Ham United's next WSL match?

West Ham will be desperate to pick up their first win of the WSL season against Liverpool in front of a home crowd, but that task has just become an awful lot harder now that they will be without Smith on Sunday.

The 30-year-old Scotland international is one of the more experienced members of Skinner's squad and her know-how and leadership cannot be undervalued, particularly after a summer of immense turnover in East London.

Several of the older heads in the Hammers' ranks departed during the off-season and while the Irons did recruit to try and bolster their ranks, they are still lacking that bit of experience and quality that will be needed in a relegation battle.

Hopefully, the Irons will have enough quality to get a result against the Reds on Sunday.

Liverpool weren't able to find a way past Leicester City in their season opener so Beard's squad are certainly beatable if Skinner's side are at their best.

In other West Ham news, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been mooted as a replacement for Lopetegui live on air

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