FA WSL Preview: Everton Women vs Aston Villa | Toffees looking for another dominant win

Everton Women face fellow WSL side Aston Villa on Sunday, April 4th at 8:00 a.m. EST/1:00 p.m. BST, with the game played at Walton Hall Park. The Blues have four remaining league fixtures to end the season, with games against Villa (12th), West Ham United (10th), Arsenal (4th) and Manchester United (3rd). Last week Manager Willie Kirk claimed a goal of 15/15 points from the final five games; so far, the team is 3/3 after one match.

“We want to accumulate more points, starting on Sunday,” Kirk said. “We’re fifth in the table and we’ve got to see how close we can get to fourth.”

The Toffees’ past five outings have seen the Merseyside outfit win the games they were supposed to and lose to the teams ahead of them in the table. They have gone 3–0–2 since late February, picking up wins versus Tottenham Hotspur (3–2), Birmingham City (4–0) and Brighton & Hove Albion (5–0). The two losses came against Manchester City (1–0) and Chelsea (3–0).

Villa, meanwhile, haven’t won in two months; their last victory came against Tottenham (1–0) at the beginning of February. Since then, the Villans’ record is a measly 0–0–4, having conceded 11 times and haven’t scored. Despite a woeful string of results, three of the four matches came against Arsenal, United and Chelsea. Currently amidst a relegation battle, Villa trail the Robins by one point but have two games in hand. While it has been a tumultuous campaign for the Lions, they end their season with favorable fixtures: Birmingham, Bristol and West Ham twice.

Everton will continue to miss the services of left back Danielle Turner, and striker Valérie Gauvin most likely will begin Sunday’s affair on the bench after training on her own Tuesday and Wednesday. With Gauvin as a substitute, Simone Magill should start. “If you were in the trenches,” Kirk said, “you would choose Simone Magill to take with you. She works so hard. She is brave and determined. She brings a lot of qualities on and off the field and is a great person.”

The Blues have enough talent on the roster to make life difficult for Villa come Sunday; both midfielder Jill Scott and goalkeeper Sandy MacIver were called up to England’s senior side for friendlies this month.

The Lions rely on German shot-stopper Lisa Weiß in net, English defender Anita Asante and German midfielders Marisa Ewers and Ramona Petzelberger, who leads the team with three goals. Villa also signed experienced Japanese international Mana Iwabuchi (two goals in eight games) during the winter transfer window to bring a spark up top — they have netted just 11 times and boast the second-worst goal differential in the league with minus-30.

Last Meeting

The last time these two sides met was early October, a period when the Blues were running rampant. The Toffees cruised to a 6–0 victory, getting contributions from four different players. This must be seen as a winnable contest for Everton, but Villa — a scrappy team fighting to stay up — should not be taken lightly.

Match Details

Competition: FA Women’s Super League

Date and start time: Sunday, April 4th at 8:00 a.m. ET/1:00 p.m. BST

Stadium: Walton Hall Park, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 2,200 (behind closed doors)

How to Watch/Listen

TV & Radio: N/A

Match Center: evertontv

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

Lineups TBA