Manchester City Women are kind of a big deal. They came in second place last season and are currently playing in the Champions League.

But Everton Ladies don’t back down from the WSL giants and tend to thrive against top teams. While the Toffees did lose to City three times last season, twice they came away with a decent result: 3-2 in 2017 and then 2-1 in the Continental Cup.

Manager Andy Spence told SheKicks Magazine:

“We’ll take confidence from the fact that we ran the top three or four teams very close last season; maybe it was some of the teams in and around us that we dropped maybe some silly points against. But we’ll be going very much to win every game we’re involved in because I think that’s very much in the DNA of our club and also our group of players.”

Man City started their WSL season with a 0-0 draw against Chelsea and have recently beat Bristol City 3-0 in their Continental Cup game. They will be without two of their stars due to injury, England internationals Jill Scott and Demi Stokes. Everton are coming off of a 3-2 Cup win against Reading and are not backing down from the challenge. Claudia Walker is looking forward to it:

“We’ve got to take our game to City, and we’re on a high anyway because we’ve got that win [against Reading]. After winning, you can’t wait to get back on the pitch again and that will show in our training sessions this week – that we’re excited to get back out there and try to back it up with another win.”

The match will be broadcast on the WSL Facebook page, so be sure to give them a watch and then let us know if you think the squad is better this year, which we debated on the Royal Blue Mersey podcast.

Predictions:

2-1, Manchester City

Who will get the start in goal? Last game, new signing Becky Flaherty got her first chance so it should be interesting to see who Spence will select.

Expect to see the 3-4-2-1 formation with Captain Dan Turner, George Brougham and Gabby George in the back line with proven goalscorer Chloe Kelly up top.

Match Details:

@EvertonLadies v @ManCity

Thursday 20 September

7 pm BST, 2 pm EST

Watch: FA WSL Facebook

A head’s up that Everton has a quick turnaround against WSL champs, Chelsea, in just a few days:

@EvertonLadies v @ChelseaFCW

Sunday 23 September

2pm BST, 9am EST

Watch: BBC Red Button