Coming off the back of an important three points secured in last weekend's Barclays Women's Super League fixture at Bristol City, Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward is hoping to see her side carry that confidence across to this weekend's clash against West Ham United. Speaking to the media this morning in Aston Villa's pre-match press conference, Ward reflected on the importance of the confidence that her squad gathered from their 2-0 victory over Bristol City at Ashton Gate last weekend.

"It obviously breeds confidence of course, but the reality of it doesn't change anything in the building because the players have been training well, they've been looking after each other, the vibes have been good," Ward said. "You know what it's like in football, momentum and a couple of wins and confidence changes naturally. It certainly puts us in a good position now to finish November how we wanted to."

Despite enduring a winless start to the new season prior to the victory at Bristol City, Ward reflected positively on her side's performances and discussed the vital role that confidence plays heading into future fixtures.

She said "Confidence and momentum in football is huge and there's not enough spoken about it. It's massive, you can be training well, you can play well; against Manchester United and Arsenal we were excellent, we dominated the ball against Liverpool, we dominated the ball against Tottenham but when you go behind (you lose confidence).

"Last year, we had a confidence about us where we turned things around and got a lot of points from those positions. This year, we go behind or we concede and when confidence is low, that plays a massive part. The mental side of the game is huge and it's not something that is looked at enough, but it's certainly something that we try to look at and we try to pick players up."

Ward went on to praise midfielder Kenza Dali for the impact that she has made since returning to the starting line-up after a prolonged period on the sidelines due to injury.

She said "We call her the magician for a reason, I don't think I have ever worked with a player of her calibre. She's an unbelievable talent, she gets players ticking and she links the back half and the front half (of the team) together. I think we missed that when we didn't have her in the side."

Latest opponents West Ham United currently sit in ninth position in the Barclays Women's Super League table on four points. The Hammers have suffered back-to-back defeats and Ward believes that things might get a bit desperate in East London this weekend.

"I'd imagine after the last two games, they will be disappointed but this is not a good time to face a Rehanne Skinner team that have just been beat because you know full well that she'll have them absolutely at it this weekend," Ward said.

"I think what you might see this weekend is two teams desperate to get a win."

Aston Villa's Barclays Women's Super League fixture against West Ham United takes place at The Chigwell Construction Stadium at 3pm on Sunday afternoon.