Everton striker Martina Piemonte is set to miss this weekend’s Women’s Super League clash with Liverpool after picking up a knee injury.
The Italian joined the club from AC Milan in the summer and has been the focal point of Everton’s attack in the early weeks of the season. Piemonte missed the Blues’ Continental Tyres League Cup defeat to Manchester City in midweek and manager Brian Sorensen has now confirmed the forward will be unavailable for this weekend’s trip to Anfield.
“Martina will be out. Elise (Stenevik) is out. They got injuries and will be out for a couple of weeks,” he said. “But on the other side we have Karen (Holmgaard) in contention and Katja (Snoeijs) also. Sara (Holmgaard) is still out, she’s a bit away (from being available).”
spite of Everton’s injury list, Sorensen is hopeful the Merseyside derby could offer his side the perfect platform to spark their campaign into life. The Blues have suffered back-to-back WSL defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Leicester City, while Liverpool have won their opening two games against Arsenal and Aston Villa.
However, it was a similar story last term, when the Blues ventured across Stanley Park off the back of a narrow defeat to West Ham. Their hosts went into the clash off the back of a stunning opening day victory over Chelsea but the Reds were promptly brought back down to earth as Everton romped to a 3-0 win in L4.
“We can take a lot of confidence from that,” Sorensen admitted. “We played well against them and that’s also our aim for the weekend. We need to see if we can get back on track in terms of victories.
“I think it (kickstarted our season) last year. We lost the first game and then we went to Anfield and won and really got into a good rhythm from there. We’re not stressed that we lost the first two games. We deserved more but at the end of the day you’ve got to put the ball in the back of the net to win a game and that’s what we’ve got to be better at.
“I take it game by game and we’re focusing on Liverpool and getting the result we want and then we’ll take it from there.”
Reflecting on Liverpool’s flying start to the season, Sorensen added: “It’s been good for them. Two wins, you can’t complain about anything. Especially the one against Arsenal at the Emirates and then against Villa.
“It’s been perfect for them and of course they will come in with a lot of confidence but they also had that last year when they beat Chelsea and then played us the week later. It’s a game where they’ll prepare as good as we can and we prepare and then the better team will win.”
Last year’s trip to Anfield marked just Sorensen’s second game as Everton boss. But, having now spent more than a year in charge at Walton Hall Park, the Dane is very much aware of what the Merseyside derby means to both the Blue and Red halves of the city.
“I looked at who we were playing in the first game and then of course when we played Liverpool, whether it was home first or away,” he said. “We really enjoyed the experience last year and we’re very much looking forward to it on Sunday also.
“Morale is good. We just want to get back and showcase ourselves and there’s no better occasion to do that than a derby. (Last year) it built a lot of belief and confidence in what we’re doing. That’s the aim, that’s the hope, to copy that.”
