Everton Women vs Birmingham City Women: Women's Super League preview, team news, TV channel, stats, kick-off time
Lucy Graham and Simone Magill missing for Everton while visitors are still without Christie Murray; watch Everton Women vs Birmingham City Women live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 11am on Saturday; kick-off 11.30am
Saturday 25 September 2021 11:37, UK
Team news and stats ahead of Everton Women vs Birmingham City Women on Saturday; kick-off 11.30am.
Everton manager Willie Kirk insists his side are heading into their Women's Super League clash with Birmingham with victory as their sole target.
Both teams are without a point from the opening two matches of the season and neither have managed to score a goal.
"I think every game this year is going to be important because we don't want to drop any points, so when we do drop points that inevitably adds a little bit of pressure on the next game and then you're always looking for that first victory of the season," Kirk told the club media.
"But we want a victory in every single game that we play, so the Birmingham game is no different, it's a must-win game.
"We go onto the pitch with the attitude that every game is a must-win, because we want to make an impression on the league and we want to do as well as possible.
"I don't think anything changes in that regard, we'll be going into the game planning to get three points and working as hard as is required to get those three points."
- Booth on turning the tide at Birmingham
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Birmingham managed to stay in the league last season, but struggled with the smallest budget with manager Scott Booth admitting they have had to make many changes.
"It was always going to be tough from start to finish this season," Booth told Sky Sports.
"We've also come from a position where we've had to make a lot of changes, bring a lot of new players in and it's a massive learning curve for everyone.
"We've learned a lot about ourselves over pre-season and the first two matches and we're looking to improve each week as we go."
Team news
Everton manager Willie Kirk will again be without midfielder Lucy Graham and forward Simone Magill through injury, although Leonie Maier will make the matchday squad and could be in line for her debut.
Kirk added that a couple of members of his squad are nursing "slight knocks".
Birmingham defender Arabella Suttie is out for the rest of the season after suffering an ACL injury in training while Christie Murray continues her rehabilitation following a foot fracture.
Blues boss Scott Booth also confirmed that a couple of players are also carrying knocks but there are no major additions to the treatment table.
How to follow
Live WSL
Everton Women vs Birmingham City Women is live on Sky Sports Premier League from 11am; kick-off 11.30am. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
Last time out...
Opta stats
- Everton have never beaten Birmingham City at home in the WSL in seven previous attempts (D4 L3) - only Bristol City against Arsenal and Liverpool against Arsenal (both nine games) have played an opponent more often at home without winning in WSL history.
- Among all WSL fixtures to be played more than 10 times, Everton vs Birmingham City has seen the lowest percentage of home wins, with just three of the 15 meetings seeing the home side win (20%).
- Everton have lost their last two home WSL matches, losing to Arsenal and Manchester City. They haven't lost three in a row at home since April 2019, with the third loss in that run coming against Birmingham.
- Since the start of the 2019-20 season, no side has failed to score in more away WSL matches than Birmingham City (12), with the Blues failing to score in their last three and attempting just 11 shots in these matches.
- Everton have opened the season with consecutive 4-0 defeats. In the competition's history, only three times has a side opened a season with a worse record - Bristol City last season (0 points, -13 GD), Yeovil Town in 2018-19 (0 points, -11 GD) and Yeovil Town again in the 2017 Spring Series (0 points, -9 GD).
