Everton v Spurs Women - Karen and Juan's preview

The last time Spurs Women took on Everton in the league in February, a spirted second half display with goals from Angela Addison and Emma Mitchell earned us a point at The Hive, after we found ourselves 2-0 down at the interval.

Karen Hills and Juan Amoros are looking to see that same fight and determination from their side when we take on the Toffees on Sunday (13 September) at Walton Hall Park in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) – kick-off is 1pm.

Last weekend, we began our 2020/21 WSL campaign with a hard-fought draw against West Ham at The Hive – an own goal from Grace Fisk gave us the lead in the second half before Adrianna Leon levelled the scoreline.

Meanwhile, Willie Kirk’s team come into this weekend’s WSL clash in high spirits following their 4-0 away win against Bristol City in their first game of the season, thanks to a brace from Lucy Graham and goals from Simone Magill and Valerie Gauvin.

“We want to see another positive performance from our players on Sunday,” said Karen ahead of our trip to the north-west this weekend. “We were disappointed that we didn’t get the win against West Ham but after watching the game back, it was probably a fair result. We want to build on the positives that we saw in our performance during our first league game back - the aggression, intent and forward thinking, but we also need to be brave and better on the ball.”

Juan added: “If we could’ve taken our chances in the first 20 minutes of the game against West Ham then it would have been a different outcome. But as Karen said, there are plenty of positives – we also saw Alanna Kennedy and Rachel Williams come on for their debuts in the second half and Kerys Harrop also made her first start for the Club in the league.”

Sunday’s hosts finished above us in sixth in the WSL last season after the league table standings were determined on a points per game basis.

“I’m expecting it to be quite an open game - there wasn’t much between us in the league last season,” Juan commented. “We know they are a team who like to press high, be aggressive, organised in possession of the ball and they work really hard to be able to play out from the back. You never know how things are going to pan out, but I think it will be an exciting game for the fans to watch on The FA Player.”

Karen said: “Everton are a good side, who have stepped up their quality and have aspirations to be up there competing with the teams at the top. We have a strong group of players here too and there is a lot of belief amongst our group. We’ve got our game plan in place and we’re ready to go to Everton and give them a tough time and hopefully get the three points.”

Fans can watch Sunday’s WSL game live on The FA Player which can be accessed for free.