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Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
LFCW manager Matt Beard says his side has struggled with injury issues to start the 2024-25 season—but a win against Everton would help get them on track.
Last weekend’s heavy 3-0 defeat at home to perennial title challengers Chelsea wasn’t a result to get Liverpool Women’s stumbling start to the season back on track, but with a derby against last-place Everton up next the Reds get another chance this Sunday.
While Liverpool’s nine points from their first seven games of the Women’s Super League season are less than hoped for for a side that finished fourth last year and was looking to push for the top three and European qualification this season, Everton’s three points sees the Reds’ local rivals mired in 12th place.
It’s something of a reversal of recent fortune on the women’s side of the game, where Everton had often been the better side on Merseyside of late, at least up until the past two seasons. For the Reds, though, the focus has to stay on their own performance.
“It has been a frustrating time for us with key personnel missing,” manager Matt Beard said of Liverpool’s start to the 2024-25 season. “When you lose players who have quality, it hurts you a little bit. We now turn our attention to the derby. They have had a few injuries, like ourselves, and we know it will be a tough game with it being a derby.
“We haven’t had much fortune playing Everton in recent games and I thought we were desperately unlucky to lose 1-0 to them at Anfield last season. Form goes out of the window in these games. We’ve just got to make sure that we outrun them and outfight them.”
The positive for Liverpool is that the table is still tight enough a win on Sunday and the right results elsewhere could see them right back in the mix fighting for the European places. Anything less than three points this time out against Everton, though, and those hopes could start to slip away.
It hasn’t been the start to 2024-25 fans, players, and the coaching staff would have hoped for on the women’s side, but the Reds aren’t out of chances just yet to find their way back to last season’s form—and on Sunday as a bonus they can do real damage to their local rival’s hopes.
