Tuesday 9 September 2014 10:16, UK
Eni Aluko believes Chelsea Ladies are in pole position in the race for the FA Women's Super League title.
Chelsea are three points clear of Birmingham at the summit of the FA WSL, but David Parker's side have played a game less and play bottom-of-the-league Everton on Tuesday.
Asked whether Chelsea's remaining games between now and the end of the season were like cup finals, England striker Aluko replied: "Absolutely, but I think to be honest every game this year has been very important for whatever reason. Thankfully, more often than not, we've performed well and we've won the game.
"We beat Birmingham which was huge, as well as Arsenal and City (in the league earlier this season) where we scored in the last minute. These have been big moments in our season and we've really come up trumps.
"There's no fear there going into these last few games, but we know we are going to have to recreate some of those performances and really dig in to hold onto our position at the top of the table."
Prior to Liverpool's draw with Everton last Thursday, Birmingham boss Parker told Sky Sports he expected the league's top three sides to drop points between now and the end of the season.
"Maybe that's wishful thinking," was Aluko's response. "The three teams are going to be looking at who is going to drop points.
"But we're in a position now where we can focus on ourselves, so what Birmingham or Liverpool say really doesn't concern me.
"We've got to make sure we win our last three games and if we do that we'll be in a good position to win the league."
Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-2 on their last league outing, but Aluko pointed to the 3-1 win over Birmingham which preceded that as a measure of the side's progress this season.
She said: "The great thing about that win was that you could understand us playing within ourselves and being nervous because it was such a crunch game, but we dominated possession.
"We played with freedom and we enjoyed it. That's the big difference with our team now. Mentally we know what we're capable of."
