West Ham Women’s manager Rehanne Skinner is backing her side to show signs of progress at Brighton this weekend, insisting the Hammers’ opening two WSL matches have given her players plenty to build on.

It has been far from an easy opening two games for the Hammers to kick off the 2025/26 WSL season. Rehanne Skinner’s side opened the campaign with a narrow 1-0 defeat against Tottenham, before welcoming last season’s Champions League winners Arsenal to the Chigwell Construction Stadium.

The Arsenal game ended in a heavy 5-1 defeat. Despite losing their opening two games, Hammers boss Skinner believes there are promising aspects from both performances to build on ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Brighton.

Rehanne Skinner’s side will take encouragement from their 3-1 win against the Seagulls back in February going into the weekend. The Hammers could welcome back first choice goalkeeper Kinga Szemik who came off injured early in the second half against Tottenham.

Speaking to the media earlier this week, Skinner stressed that despite a difficult start, the season has only just begun and the Hammers are taking things on a game by game basis.

“Obviously we want to get points on the board. It’s a long, long season, so there are plenty of opportunities. We’re only two games in , and we just focus on the next one in front of us.” said Skinner.

Last time out, the Hammers were on the wrong end of a thrashing against Arsenal. Reflecting on the game against Renee Slegers side, Skinner acknowledged the quality of the opposition but insisted there were positives to build on.

“When they score the goals with the quality they have, you have to accept that and move on pretty quickly. I think the game got away from us a little bit as it went on, but there were positives to take out of it in our structure and intensity.” Skinner told reporters.

Looking ahead to the Brighton game, Skinner discussed how the Hammers can take confidence from how they approached facing Brighton last season.

“We found ways to break down Brighton and to create good goalscoring opportunities (last season). From a players’ perspective, if the scenario is the same or the structure is the same in the style of play, you can recognise and exploit things that you think are going to work in your favour.” said the Hammers boss.

Skinner’s side will be hoping to bounce back from the Arsenal defeat, produce a positive display against the Seagulls and pick up their first points of the season.