Women’s League Cup: Everton vs Manchester City | Group stage kicks off

Preview

Everton take on fellow WSL side Manchester City in the first game of the FA Women’s Continental League Cup this Wednesday, October 7 at 2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. BST, to be played at the Manchester City Academy Stadium.

Six goals at the weekend against Aston Villa have Everton rolling ahead of a difficult date with City. Wednesday’s game is the lone meeting between the two sides before the FA Cup Final, which will be played on November 1 at 9:30 a.m. ET/2:30 p.m. BST. The match will provide both teams the opportunity to see how they match up against the other in preparation for Wembley.

To start the WSL season, Everton sit second in the table with nine points, missing out on the top spot on goal differential. City, meanwhile, have had a slow start by their standards with two wins and one draw, but an influx of new signings have started clicking and they are peaking at the right time.

In three league games, Everton have scored eleven goals and conceded none (plus-11 goal differential), while City have scored six goals, allowing one (plus-five metric). City had an equally convincing win over the weekend, dispatching Tottenham Hotspur 4–1.

As quickly as Everton’s summer signings have acclimated to Merseyside, Man City have had more of an adjustment period in the league. Players like Chloe Kelly, signed from Everton, and Sam Mewis, a three-time NWSL champion and a World Cup-winner, weren’t as prolific as they can be to start their tenure in Manchester, but have since looked commanding — Kelly bagged a brace against Spurs and Mewis has two goals in her last two games.

Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images

City’s formidable attack will prove the toughest task for an Everton defense that has conceded just once in five games across all competitions. If Everton are to maintain their defensive dominance, Megan Finnigan and Rikke Sevecke at center-back, Ingrid Moe Wold and Danielle Turner on the wings and Sandy MacIver in net will have to continue to be excellent.

For City, their team is loaded with national team stars, not only from England, but from several other top nations in the women’s game — in addition to Mewis, City boast the likes of Canadian Janine Beckie, American Rose Lavelle and Scot Caroline Weir. The English contingent of the Citizens includes: Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton, Georgia Stanway and Ellen White among others.

Last Meeting

The last meeting between the two sides was on August 23, 2020 — a preseason match in which City out-scored Everton, winning 4–1. While the lineups from the preseason contest will be similar to Wednesday’s team sheets, Everton are a much different group from the side that conceded four goals in late August. Any jitters of facing a top-three team will have long dissipated after Everton defeated Chelsea 2–1 in the FA Cup quarter-final. There is a different energy and…