In her latest column, West Ham Women captain Gilly Flaherty discusses the importance of fans after the news that they will not be able to attend matches due to London moving into tier three.

It fills me with great sadness that our fantastic supporters will not be able to join us at Dagenham and Redbridge Stadium for Sunday’s match against Aston Villa.

I know that everyone behind the scenes at West Ham United and at Dagenham and Redbridge has worked so hard to make the stadium as safe as possible ahead of the game.

But the recent government review of the Covid-19 restrictions means we will close out the year without the fans with us.

Even though there weren’t any West Ham fans in attendance when we played Chelsea away at the start of December, it felt good to be playing football in front of a crowd again.

The game simply isn’t the same without that energy, that passion, from supporters.

I speak for everyone in our squad when I say how badly our fans are missed and how much we look forward to welcoming them back to Dagenham and Redbridge Stadium, hopefully sooner rather than later.

We are heading into Sunday’s fixture on the back of two good performances away to Chelsea and Bristol City.

We took the game to the reigning Barclays FA Women’s Super League champions and were desperately unlucky not to leave Kingsmeadow with at least a share of the points.

Against Bristol City, we had to contend with some tough conditions, but we showed our attacking quality and got a deserved win and three much-needed points on the board.

Our target now is to end the year with another win on Sunday.

Aston Villa have come up from the Championship and recruited well in the summer. They will be a tricky test for us.

Given how close we are to each other in the table, Villa will also be looking at us as an opportunity to collect three points and we will need to put on another strong showing in order to claim the victory.

I want to take the opportunity to thank each and every fan reading this for your continued, unwavering support of our team during what has been a difficult 2020.

While we aren’t completely out of it yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel and I hope you all have a chance to be with your loved ones and relax during the holiday season.

Stay safe, have a happy Christmas and come on you Irons!