Everton Women manager Brian Sorensen has been looking ahead to a big game at home to Crystal Palace
Getting a result against Crystal Palace is “really important” in putting to bed any lingering relegation fears, said Everton Women’s boss Brian Sorensen. His side are currently sat eighth in the Women’s Super League table, seven points clear of trouble with four wins from their 16 league games this term.
But if they drop points against rock-bottom Palace at Walton Hall Park on Saturday (2pm kick-off), fears of facing the drop could start to creep back in.
“We want to make sure that we don’t need to look down and win that game tomorrow,” said Sorensen.
“It’s 90 minutes of football, and anything can happen. We could be really dominant and they find two right moments to hurt us, or we could be hitting the post, or vice versa. We just need to make sure that we are sharp, ready and display our best self.
“But I am very confident in the squad we have at the moment and we haven’t gotten our last three points of the season.”
Sorensen confirmed the Blues could be dealing with another squad setback as Clare Wheeler might be unavailable for selection once again, despite only making a return from injury last week.
“Clare Wheeler’s been sick,” Sorensen told the media. “She’s in the building today but we’ll need to see where she’s at.”
The Australian international made an appearance off the bench in the Blues’ 3-1 home loss against Arsenal last Friday, marking her first minutes in six weeks after suffering with a thigh injury.
She told club media, it was “an amazing feeling” to be back on pitch at Walton Hall Park but it looks like another delay will stop her from racking up the minutes this weekend.
Sorensen also confirmed Melissa Lawley is being assessed after a “kick earlier in the week” and Chelsea loanee Louna Ribadeira is likely to be out for the rest of the season following surgery for a foot injury.
“Crystal Palace were thrown a life boatlast weekend,” Sorensen said as he previewed Saturday’s game. “If they go and do the same tomorrow, they’ll be in a good place for the rest of the season.
“We know it’s going to be tough but we prepared well this week and had a good training session. We’re ready to take them on.”
The 44-year-old also spoke on the recent departure of Everton Women’s CEO Alan McTavish.
“We all loved Alan and worked really well with him,” he said. “But you have the new owners coming in and you need to respect their vision and what they want to do. Personally, I really liked him, he was always supportive in everything I was asking for so I wish him all the best that’s for sure.”
