‘IT’S A BIG TEST FOR US’- INJURY-HIT EVERTON FACE BIG CHALLENGE AGAINST ARSENAL SAYS SØRENSEN

Everton manager Brian Sørensen says that his side will try to make the best of what is a difficult situation when they face Arsenal at Walton Hall Park on Sunday. 

The Blue Girls currently occupy ninth position in the Barclays Women’s Super League table following last weekend’s 2-1 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Everton now face third-placed Arsenal in their next match on Sunday. When speaking in the pre-match press conference, manager Sørensen revealed that his side are back to having a long list of injuries.

“There’s quite a list again,” Sørensen said. “Yaya [Aurora Galli] unfortunately got injured in the Brighton game so she’s out, Rikke [Madsen] and Heather [Payne] are still not ready, Rambo [Emily Ramsey] is out, Toni [Duggan] is out, [Katrine] Veje is probably also out and Karoline Olesen. Benni [Hanna Bennison] has been sick all week but hopefully, we will get her ready.

“We are back to a long list unfortunately. It was looking brighter and brighter with players coming back but that’s how it is.”

Going on to discuss opponents Arsenal, Sørensen said that a big test awaits his patched up side but Everton will give the task their all.

He said “We will see what we can do to get a team ready for Arsenal because that will be a massive task. They are one of the most organised teams in the league and have been looking really good lately. It’s a big test for us.

“If we can get our game plan right and make sure that we stay in the game, especially in the first half, I think we can maybe cause some trouble but we also know that when they start to get the game going, they almost suffocate you then it can be a long 90 minutes. We have to be realistic and try to set the team up for that but we hope that we can make a good game out of it.”

Despite Sørensen having to juggle his squad all season due to injuries, Everton have consistently performed to a high standard. Sørensen went on to praise his squad for their performances.

He said “I think the group is a really good group, they work really well together. If we’ve had to play players out of position, they’ve took on their jobs and they’ve performed well. At the end of the day, we play a certain way or want to play a certain way and the principles we have, they understand them regardless of the position.

“I think overall, they’ve always managed to put out a good performance and I’ve been happy with all of the performances throughout the year, just results haven’t always gone our way. That’s football and we’ve worked really hard on this, especially the final third.”

Everton have three games remaining and Sørensen says that the club are aiming to end the campaign strongly.

He said “We want to finish those three games off as well as we can because we feel we belong a bit higher in the table looking at our performances. It’s just unfortunate that we have so many out, that makes it harder to achieve those goals.

“I know the group are ready and that they will do absolutely anything that they can to finish as well as they can.”

Everton’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Arsenal at Walton Hall Park kicks off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon.