FA Women’s Cup: Everton vs Chelsea | Toffees face League Champions in the Quarter-finals

Preview

Everton take on title holders Chelsea in the FA Women’s Cup Quarter-final this Sunday, September 27 at 8 a.m. ET, with the game being played at Goodison Park.

The final eight teams in the FA Women’s Cup are finishing the 2019/20 competition, which was postponed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Of the remaining teams, seven compete in the WSL, with Leicester City the lone Championship side.

Chelsea will undoubtedly prove Everton’s toughest challenge of the season to date, as the Toffees have won against Bristol City and Tottenham in the two opening matches of the season.

Both Everton and Chelsea have experienced strong starts to the domestic campaign. Ahead of the quarterfinal match, Everton have scored a total of five goals, while Chelsea have netted a whopping 10 times — nine of which came against Bristol City.

While Chelsea hold a strong goal advantage, Everton are ahead on points (6/4), as Chelsea drew their opening fixture with Manchester United. Of Everton’s five goals, there have been four different goal scorers — Izzy Christiansen, Valérie Gauvin, Lucy Graham and Simone Magill. Chelsea, on the other hand, have had nine different goal scorers, illustrating the incredible scoring depth of Head Coach Emma Hayes’s squad.

Both teams were active in the transfer market this summer, with Everton bringing in experienced internationals such as Danes Rikke Sevecke and Nicoline Sørensen, Norwegian defender Ingrid Moe Wold and French striker Gauvin. The new summer signings have been seamlessly incorporated into Willie Kirk’s side and have allowed Everton to hit the ground running at the onset of the 2020/21 campaign.

Chelsea, meanwhile, perhaps made the splashiest move of the summer, signing Danish forward Pernille Harder, who is widely considered one of the world’s top strikers. After playing for Wolfsburg of the Frauen Bundesliga for the past three seasons, Harder joins Chelsea in the prime of her career (aged 27), having scored 68 times for Wolfsburg in 75 games, and 62 goals in 120 appearances with Denmark.

In addition to Christiansen and Sørensen, keep an eye on Megan Finnigan, Graham and Hayley Raso for the Toffees. Finnigan, who plays as the team’s right-sided center-back is a strong defender capable of breaking up play and moving the ball forward. Through two games, midfielder Graham has two goals and two assists and will look to pull the strings in the middle of the pitch. Raso, a speedy winger, looks to burn her opponents on the wings or run at the heart of the defense in the middle of the field. With plenty of fiery attacking players and resolute defenders, Everton have all the tools to make this quarterfinal a highly competitive match.

Not only will Everton have to be weary of Harder, Chelsea boast one of Europe’s most complete rosters. For players to watch, I honestly could go down the squad list, naming every member of the team, but for the sake of being concise, I will highlight some of the vital members of Hayes’s squad. Millie Bright leads the defense, Ji So-yun picks her opponents apart in the midfield, while Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr pace a potent Chelsea attack that can score from all angles.

Last Meeting

Coincidentally, the last time these two sides faced each other was in the 2019 iteration of the FA Cup, which took place on February 3, 2019, with Everton falling in the fourth round, losing 2–0. To recall the last time Everton played Chelsea in a WSL game, we have to rewind back to January 6, 2019 — a 3–0 away loss. In that same season, Everton also drew 0–0 versus Chelsea at home. It has been over a year and a half since these two sides met, due to games being postponed by poor weather conditions as well as the coronavirus pandemic. With both teams having drastically changed their rosters since the February 3 meeting, tomorrow’s game will surely be a spirited affair.

Match Details

Competition: FA Women’s Cup Sixth Round

Date and start time: Sunday, September 27rd at 8:00 a.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. BST

Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England , United Kingdom

Capacity: 39,572 (behind closed doors)

How to Watch/Listen

TV & Radio: N/A

Match Centre: evertontv

Live stream: evertontv (free for members, registration required), The FA Player (free, registration required)

Lineups

Everton

Chelsea