Women’s Merseyside Derby at Anfield: Match Preview & How to Watch

Six months ago, we wrote an article begging for a women’s Merseyside derby at Goodison or Anfield — and the Soccer Goddesses have rewarded us with one on Sunday at Anfield! Sure, Goodison would have been our preference, but whatever! Here we are!

Everton take on Liverpool at Anfield for WSL’s Women’s Football Weekend and there will be lots of fun events taking place before the game at Goodison Fan Zone, including an interview with Blues striker and goal magician Chloe Kelly.

The reason Kelly is available for that interview, though, is because she will unfortunately not be available to play in the match on Sunday due to receiving two yellow cards in the Continental Cup game against Manchester United which ended in a 3-0 loss for the Blues.

This is a huge loss for the Toffees considering that Kelly has scored 4 goals in their first 5 game but Manager Willie Kirk told BBC.com that while this is a “big miss” it will give “somebody else a big opportunity. They will be over the moon to have their chance to shine.” Who that somebody else will be is yet to be seen but our best guess is midfielder Lucy Graham (who has one goal off of a penalty kick) or Simone Magill (who scored twice against Liverpool last season). Everton are currently in 5th place with three wins.

Liverpool has had a miserable start to the season and are currently in last place with only one goal scored, by Melissa Lawley. Kirk told BBC.com that he is not expecting this to be an easy win:

“They have five or six players that can take up any of the four front positions and they are all talented and can give you headaches.”

A Red that enjoys being a nuisance on the pitch is former Everton striker Courtney Sweetman-Kirk. If she gets into her zone, she could help carry her team out of the relegation zone.

The Guardian reported that Liverpool are estimating Sunday’s crowd to be about 15,000 - 20,000 fans. That’s going to be quite a new experience for Everton considering that they typically play in front of a crowd of 383 people. Liverpool fares a bit better with an average attendance rate of 1,180 at Prenton Park.

Everton had the lowest attendance rates in the WSL last season and although they have experienced a post-World Cup bump, they continue to suffer from low turnout, partly due to stadium issues. They were scheduled to change from their rather far away and inconvenient stadium in Blowick to a small stadium close to Goodison in October, but that has been pushed back to December at the earliest.

Everton has an away allocation of 2,384 tickets at Anfield, but the club didn’t advertise it until six days after the match was announced by the Reds and many fans had already bought tickets from Liverpool during that time. Tickets are no longer available to purchase online or through Everton, but they can still be purchased until 3pm GMT on Saturday at Liverpool’s ticket office.

Tickets will not be available to purchase the day of the match due to license restrictions and no facility to pay at the gate. A handy visitor guide can be found here.

While the club has mostly stayed silent about their low attendance rates, manager Kirk recently addressed the issue on Evertonfc.com:

“We’re eager to use the game as a springboard to help boost our home attendances. Everton is a huge club and we accept we have a responsibility to try to grow our following.

Hopefully, we’ll have 2,500 Evertonians leaving Anfield with three points and a big smile on their faces. That feeling will hopefully encourage those supporters to keep backing us throughout the season and help us achieve further success.”

One club, one love! Come on you Blues!

Prediction:

1-0, Everton

Match Details

Everton Women vs Liverpool Women in the WSL

Sunday 17 November

3:00 pm GMT (10:00 am ET)

Anfield

How to Watch:

FA Player app

Liverpool Facebook page (in case the app is not working)