‘It’s always a good battle’ – Everton boss Sørensen expects exciting FA Cup tie against Spurs | OneFootball

Everton manager Brian Sørensen is expecting an ultra-competitive game when his side face Tottenham Hotspur in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup fourth round at Walton Hall Park this evening.

The Blue Girls have never lost to Spurs on home soil, although most of their meetings on Merseyside have been incredibly tight.

When speaking to the media ahead of this evening’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie, Everton boss Sørensen highlighted Spurs’ quality and said that he is expecting another fascinating battle.

“It’s been a tough start for them [after Christmas] having the League Cup in midweek [as well as league games],” Sørensen said. “From a squad perspective, I know they’ve had some players out with injury and some of the new players that they’ve brought in weren’t registered before [the FA Cup fourth round registration date].

“They have quality players, you’ve seen that in the league, they’re getting wins. They want to be aggressive in their approach. You have to respect that they’re getting the wins. They’re a good team, we played them before Christmas and if we don’t get our game plan right, they have the tools to hurt us for sure.

“I’m looking forward to it, it’s always a good battle against them. They’re a little more open games and that probably suits us a bit more. I think it’s going to be a good game.”

Sørensen has been very active in the January transfer window, adding much-needed depth to his squad. The Everton boss said that having more options on the bench is absolutely crucial at the top level of the English game.

He said “We’ve needed that [competition] for a long time. The starting XI has been giving [that level of competition] but at times, we’ve had 11 or 12 players to actually play. Now, it’s really positive, everyone is fighting for game time and that’s fun. It just makes us even better; the more competitive it is, the sharper you have to be. Hopefully, we will also see that on the pitch on gamedays.

“It’s how it has to be. You can’t survive in this league when you’re that low on numbers and you can’t do anything off the bench and so on. Our season has been very illustrated in that; if you don’t get it right in the beginning, it’s tough for us. On a good day, we’d get a draw, on a bad day, we’d get a loss and on a very good day, we’d get on top and see it out but it’s still super-tough and small margins.

“With the availability that we have now, it is much easier to do something from the bench and we have a Plan A, Plan B and so on.”

With Everton now having plenty of options, Sørensen believes that a run in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup is hugely important in keeping players sharp.

He said “We want as many games as we can. If you get knocked out of the FA Cup early and you’re not in the League Cup, there are a lot of big gaps in your calendar, plus the international breaks are there. We would love to go on a cup run that’s for sure.”

Everton’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Tottenham Hotspur kicks-off at 7pm. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.