Albion kick off the new Barclays WSL season on Sunday when we take on Everton at Walton Hall Park, kick off 1pm.
Team news
It’s been a summer of major upheaval in the Albion squad with 13 players leaving and 11 coming in. One of the new arrivals, Spain’s Vicky Losada, has been named club captain.
Two-thirds of the squad only returned from international duty on Friday and coach Melissa Phillips, who is starting her first full season in charge, has a virtually full-strength squad available.
The Opposition
Compared to some of their rivals, it was a relatively quiet transfer window at Everton with seven new arrivals. Emily Ramsey joined permanently from Manchester United and Alyssa Aherne has come from United on loan. Heather Payne and Emma Bissell has joined from Florida State Seminoles; Martina Piemonte from AC Milan; and Karoline Olesen from Denmark’s Fortuna Hjorring. They have also recruited Justine Vanhaevermaet from relegated Reading.
Jess Park (Manchester City) has returned to her parent club following a loan spell and Gabby George has joined Manchester United permanently. Leonie Maier is heading to Hoffenheim and Kenzie Weir to Glasgow City on a season-long loan while Izzy Christiansen announced her retirement.
Previous meetings
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Both teams won their home games last season. Elisabeth Terland (2) and Katie Robinson netted in our 3-2 victory in April but Everton triumphed 2-1 in the penultimate game of the season despite another goal from Robinson. Albion have won once at Walton Hall Park in November 2021 when Aileen Whelan netted in a 1-0 victory.
Stats and facts
The last nine WSL results between Everton and Brighton have seen three draws, three Everton wins and three Brighton wins – the Toffees won 2-1 in the most recent meeting in May.
Everton have won just two of their 10 opening games of the season in the WSL (D2 L6), losing the last two. Their two wins both came away from home – 1-0 at Birmingham in 2019-20 and 4-0 at Bristol City in 2020-21.
Brighton and Hove Albion lost 4-0 against Arsenal in their opening WSL game last season but started their seasons with a win in the previous two campaigns, winning 2-0 against Birmingham in 2020-21 and 2-0 against West Ham in 2021-22.
Everton were the only side across the big-five European women’s leagues last season to not make 1,000 long passes in 2022-23 (994). They only played 4.6% of their passes into the opposition penalty area last season, the lowest percentage in the big-five leagues.
After conceding just 14 goals in their first 14 WSL games last season, Everton then shipped 22 goals in their last eight games. In that timeframe (March 24 to the end of the season), only relegated Reading conceded more goals (23).
Albion conceded 63 goals in the Women’s Super League last season – in WSL history, only Bristol City in 2020-21 have ever conceded more in a season (72), with the Robins finishing bottom that campaign.
Elisabeth Terland scored seven goals in the WSL for Brighton in 2022-23, second only to Inessa Kaagman in 2020-21 (8) for the Seagulls in a season in the competition. Her seven goals made her the top scoring WSL player aged 21 or younger last season.
Only three WSL players progressed the ball further upfield with a ball carry than Brighton winger Katie Robinson last season (2,018 metres). She also created 20 chances following a ball carry, second only to Chloe Kelly (25).
Match officials
Referee: Kirsty Dowle
Assistant referees: Emily Carney and Lisa Rashid
Fourth official: Ade Soneye
How to follow the game
The game is live on the FA Player and you can follow it on our live blog and social media channels.