Everton gear up for a mountainous challenge this weekend, as they travel to Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League. Toffees boss, Brian Sørensen, spoke to the media ahead of the clash in North London.
Sørensen notes Gabarro and Galli injuries have proved ‘extremely tough’ for the club
First providing an update on the fitness of his Everton side, Sørensen confirmed that the players recovered well after their midweek clash with Newcastle United in the Women’s League Cup. Sørensen confirmed that both Melissa Lawley and Karen Holmgaard will remain absent for this weekend’s meeting with the Gunners.
Everton have received an onslaught of dispiriting news over the last week, as the club have confirmed that both Aurora Galli and Imna Gabarro have ruptured their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign.
Speaking on the disheartening events, Sørensen expressed “It’s extremely tough, especially with the small squad we have. It’s two really good players for us, high profile. I think the girls have handled it well.I think the group is quite resilient, especially after last year and all the injuries we had.” Sørensen continued, “We hadn’t had an ACL for three years and now two in a week which is never fun.”
Commenting on Gabarro more specifically, Sørensen expressed “To see her go down in what I call a freak injury where she gets the push and lands wrong. That’s nothing to do with fatigue, it’s 10 minutes into the game. It’s just really bad luck.”
Arsenal ‘one of the toughest teams’ Everton can face
The odds are said to be stacked against Everton this weekend, as they return to league action at the Emirates Stadium to face Jonas Eidevall’s Arsenal side. First giving his thoughts on Sunday’s opposition, Sørensen expressed “Arsenal are a really well-coached side that are organised and hard to play against. They have extremely good talents in the squad, extremely key players that know the game super well.”
Despite the tough opponent that awaits his side, Sørensen said that he expects his side to “play without fear” against the Gunners. He elaborated, “We will try to identify where we can hurt them and what problems they are most likely to cause us and try to nullify all of those strengths. I think the good thing about this game is that we can go in with no questions, we can play our football as we did against [Manchester] United, because I don’t think many [people] expect us to do something. We will go there and play without any fear, and showcase ourselves in the best way possible.”
Sørensen says Everton will not be shaken by playing at Emirates Stadium
As the Toffees now gear up for a heavy task in facing Arsenal, Brian Sørensen’s side must face the added pressure of playing at Emirates Stadium for the first time in their domestic league history. Speaking on whether this adds another element of pressure for his side heading into Sunday, Sørensen was firm “No, we prep the same.”
Sørensen continued, “I don’t think we have lost a game at a big stadium, so we have a decent record at big stadiums. We haven’t played at the Emirates before, but for some reason we look more calmed and relaxed [at big stadiums]. No one expects anything of us, so why not just go and give everything you have and play to the strengths that we have, and see where that can carry us.”
Despite admitting that his side have no intention of bowing down to the Gunners, Sørensen frankly admitted “we are also not naive, we know that it is going to be extremely tough and that we are going to be under a lot of pressure, but the only thing that we can control is our own performance.”
Everton will travel to Emirates Stadium this Sunday to face Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League. Proceedings are set to head underway at 14:00 BST, and can be streamed live on YouTube.
