EVERTON WOMEN VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: WSL MATCH PREVIEW

Brian Sorensen has urged patience with Issy Hobson after being asked if the teen could be in his starting plans for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

The lifelong Blue’s last-gasp equaliser earned a point for the Toffees last week, and saw her become the WSL’s youngest scorer and Everton Women’s youngest for 14 years.

But despite the young midfielder’s heroics and the inevitable headlines and clamour her goal has caused, Sorensen, who has been nominated for the WSL Manager of the Month Award for April, feels that a regular starting place is not imminent, citing her preferred position and standard of the league she is hoping to make her name in as two of the big reasons.

“I still think there is a big step here,” he said. “If I was still in Demark I would probably play Issy (Hobson) from the start, like I did with Kathrine Kuhl and Karoline Olesen, when I brought them through at 15.

“When I was in the Danish league we looked on that as maybe hurting us short term but in the long term it would be a very good investment.

“This league (WSL) is a little more brutal in that the step is gigantic and you need to be ready for more aspects.

“She (Hobson) is also not playing further up the pitch which sometimes makes it easier to play the young players, who can learn from their mistakes easier. When you are playing in a more defensive role it is much harder. You make a mistake and you are often punished.

“Patience is the key, being in our environment consistently and improving and doing the right stuff and the starts will come for her.

“But it’s probably not just around the corner.”

While Hobson may not be ready for a regular start just yet, Sorensen still has a lengthy injury list ahead of the visit of Robert Vilahamn’s side, although the Blues boss does welcome Katrine Veje back into the squad, while Kuhl is available after being ineligible to play against her parent club last week.

Hanna Bennison, Olesen and Toni Duggan are still felling the effects of illness and remain sidelined.

The Opposition

Although highly improbable, Spurs could still mathematically finish as high as fourth this season and will want to end their impressive campaign as strong as possible.

Unbeaten in all competitions since February, Vilahamn’s team have next week’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup Final to look forward to, having pulled off one of the shocks of the season by beating league leaders Manchester City on penalties in the semi-finals.

Martha Thomas heads the team’s scoring charts with ten so far, and is back in contention to face Everton on Saturday, along with Drew Spence and Celin Bizet, but Spurs will be without the experienced Amy James-Turner in defence.

And it will be the opposition’s rearguard the hosts will look to exploit. Tottenham have the poorest defensive record in the top half of the WSL, having not kept a clean sheet since March when they beat Leicester City at Brisbane Road.

Previous Meetings

A late strike from former loanee Aggie Beever-Jones gave the Blues all three points in this fixture last season in an entertaining 2-1 win for the Merseysiders.

The game had looked to heading for a draw after Eveliina Summanen’s 18th minute equaliser had cancelled out Nicoline Sorensen’s opener inside five minutes.

A win for Everton over their North London rivals could see the Toffees climb as high as seventh should results go their way, but they will need their top stars to be at the peak of their powers, including Sara Holmgaard, whose impressive form has seen her nominated for WSL Player of the Month for April.

Plus, those established first-team stars know that there is a batch of young talent just waiting to take their chance like Hobson did last week.

Everton Women take on Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday 4 May at Walton Hall Park. Tickets are still available for the 12pm kick off (BST) and can be purchased here.

2024-05-04T06:09:20Z dg43tfdfdgfd