Everton Ladies v. Birmingham City: Preview and Predictions

Everton Ladies play Birmingham City on Wednesday night at their home stadium, Southport. The last time these two teams faced off was on September 9, when the Toffees lost 0-1. Birmingham is currently in 4th place with 9 wins — Everton is in 10th with 2 wins.

The last time the Blues won was March 13th against West Ham, when Hannah Cain’s late goal gave them a 1-0 win away. This is pretty impressive given that the Hammers have made it to the FA Cup Final. It’s bewildering because not long after, the Blues lost to last-place Yeovil Town — again.

Everton will see a familiar face among their opposition on Wednesday, with striker Claudia Walker on loan to Birmingham for the rest of the season. It was quite a curious deal for Everton to make, given that Walker was tied as top goal scorer during a season marred by goal droughts.

Walker had scored one league goal and two cup goals before her departure. Since joining Birmingham in January, Walker has scored one goal in 13 appearances.

Everton’s current top goal scorer is midfielder Inessa Kaagman, with two league goals, one cup goal, and three assists. Before the season started, Captain Dan Turner predicted that Kaagman would be the standout performer for the Blues, and she has now earned her spot in the World Cup squad for Netherlands!

Birmingham has two players who were called up for England Lionesses’ recent friendlies against Canada and Spain. They didn’t start in the 1-0 defeat to Canada, but Ellen White had a starring role in the 2-1 win over Spain with an assist and a goal.

Birmingham lost their head coach, Marc Skinner, to Orlando Pride of the NWSL, which just kicked their season off with a 2-0 loss against Portland in front of 7,189 spectators. Reportedly, Skinner was interested in the Everton manager position before current Willie Kirk landed the job. Birmingham’s current coach is Marta Tejedor, and the club has announced that they appointed a new general manager, Sarah Westwood.

Blues Defender Georgia Brougham told Everton.com that the squad wants to notch a win over Birmingham to get closer to ninth-placed Brighton & Hove Albion:

“It’s a massively important match. We were very disappointed with the result against Yeovil and now we have to regroup.”

”We can’t let our heads go down and we want to pick up as many points as we can and finish the league campaign as well as possible.”

Projected Lineup:

Striker Chloe Kelly is out for the rest of the season and there’s no word on the status of Gabby George, who went off with an injury during the Yeovil Town defeat. If she is healthy, the lineup could look something like this:

Kirstie Levell; Emma Brownlie, Gabby George, Georgia Brougham, Danielle Turner; Megan Finnigan, Abbey Stringer; Inessa Kaagman, Angharad James; Simone Magill; Hannah Cain.

Projected score:

1-0, Birmingham

Match details

vs @BCFCwomen

At: @southport_fc

Wednesday 17 April, 7pm

Kids attend for free

Tickets: http://bit.ly/2HwfNos