By Alyce Collett 23/1/2026
Above: Everton coach Brian Sorenson in training. Photo: via Everton FC
After a confidence boosting win last weekend in the FA Cup, Everton do not have to wait too long to get back on the pitch in the Women’s Super League (WSL), as they open this weekend’s action with a Friday night clash at home against Brighton and Hove Albion.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Everton’s head coach Brian Sorenson was reflective of where his side was placed at this point in the season.
“I think our performance in the last block was good against Villa, Man City and Chelsea” Sorenson said.
“We did well and maybe got the points that we deserved in that in that block, but also earlier on we were losing tight games.
“But overall, I think we’re in a good place. We had a good performance against a very top side from City.
“If you watch the game last night, for example, Chelsea had problems building against Citi and we did that quite constantly. It’s just the output in the final third that we were lacking. We’re working on that and we were confident going to this game also knowing that it will be a tough game because I think Brighton has some very good players, especially in the front line.”
Scoring has not always come freely to the Toffees this season, but Sorenson does not think that is where the bigger issue lies for his side.
“I think like this season, it actually hasn’t been scoring goals that’s been our main problem, it has been the defence” Sorenson explained.
“Of course we always want more and we want to score more, but if you look back on the last three season I’ve been here, this is the season where we score by far the most until now.
And we know that it’s tight games. We need to make sure our defence is super solid and then we know we’ll create a chance or two, and then it’s just taking advantage of that.”
Sorenson acknowledged the injury issues the Seagulls have faced this season – and also noted the similarities to the issues his own team has faced – and said that because of how “the games that are super tight, they can go either way”, his team needed to find new ways to get around the challenged Brighton throw at opponents.
“It’s about being defensive solid and take your chances the other way” Sorenson explained.
“I still think they play really good football. They are very dynamic in the approach.
“I think they’re very similar to us – they change formations in game and from game to game, they have different approaches on how they want to defend but also the way they attack. They can build it with three, they can build with four, they can rotate the fullbacks inside. They can rotate the fullbacks forward.
“It’s super dynamic, so that’s just what we need to be alert of.”
The games may be coming thick and fast for Everton at the moment, but it is still the winter transfer window and the deals are coming thick and fast for many sides in the WSL.
Despite how busy Everton was this time last year, this transfer has been a lot quieter for the Toffees, with Hannah Blundell coming in on loan the only new face so far this window.
However, if everything goes to plan there are more new faces to come.
“We are looking to add at least two more” Sorenson confirmed.
“So we are working extremely hard for that, but it’s not an easy window. The prices have skyrocketed and we haven’t budgeted for that. So we need to see if we can be creative, otherwise we just have to pull through with the ones that we have.”
There has been a lot of talk surrounding the future of star forward Kelly Gago, but Sorenson had some news that will bring relief to the Everton faithful.
Sorenson does not “think she’s going anywhere” because “she wants to go and she has release clause in her contract, so the club that wants to can just pay that and she’s free to go, but from my understanding it’s like 10% of that release clause that’s been submitted.”
Follow Impetus on social media:
@ImpetusFootball on Threads, Instagram and TikTok.
impetusfootball.org 