07:41
10 minutes: Free kick for Chelsea down the left. Reiten shoves it into a crowded mixer. Turner clears with an impressive header. Everton hold out for a bit here.
07:40
9 min: Kerr steals the ball from a sleeping Finnigan and dives down the inside right channel. She enters the area and shoots low and hard to the lower right. MacIver is right to block.
07:38
7 min: She takes. Eriksson climbs higher but sends his header to the left. That was a good opportunity for the Chelsea captain, and she will be disappointed if she doesn’t at least make it.
07:37
6 min: Cuthbert passed long from deep to the right, forcing Bjorn to head back for the first corner of the game. Cuthbert to take.
07:35
4 min: Everton are struggling to retain possession at the moment, with Chelsea pushing hard. The ball breaks Ji, who has a belt from afar. Christiansen is right to block.
07:33
2 minutes: Chelsea are quickly on the attack, Harder and Ingle combine from the left, first cutting from the wing, the last sliding the ball down the channel towards Kirby, just outside D. Kirby drags his shot to the left. It wasn’t his best effort, but it was a lovely move.
07:31
Chelsea starts the party … but only after the players kneel down to a hearty applause. Black lives are important.
07:30
The teams are out! The defending champs rush onto the Kingsmeadow field as the Liquidator leaves the AP. Chelsea wears their blue, so Everton are forced to wear their white change strap. This is happening.
07:26
Emma Hayes and Willie Kirk speak to the BBC. After the opening day losses, both are eager to emphasize how their teams are still in progress. “Everybody gets the first game of the season out of proportion, we’ve only been together as a group for three weeks,” says Hayes. “It takes time to build relationships, communications and interactions between us, and I hope it is more advanced than last week. Meanwhile, Kirk notes that “when the games come out, we will get an early indicator of how close we are and how much work we still have to do, and that will be the case again today.”
06:47
The teams
Chelsea: Berger, Carter, Eriksson, Bright, Reiten, Ji, Ingle, Kerr, Mosegaard-Harder, Kirby, Cuthbert.
Subs: Musovic, Nouwen, Leupolz, England, Fleming, Charles, Spence, Andersson, Fox.
Everton: MacIver, Bennison, Bjorn, Finnigan, Gabrielle George, Turner, Izzy Christiansen, Galli, Emslie, Anvegard, Sorensen.
Subsidiaries: Sevecke, Dali, Duggan, Gauvin, Brosnan, Clinton, Pattinson.
Updated
06:34
Preamble
Chelsea’s title defense began with defeat last week, when Emma Hayes’ team fell 3-2 at Arsenal in the first big six points of the WSL this season. The Gunners were a bit sharper thanks to their participation in the Champions League playoffs, although Chelsea will be encouraged by the display of their Scottish midfielder Erin Cuthbert, who scored a good goal and set up another for Pernille Harder. Meanwhile, Everton opened with a 4-0 loss at home to Manchester City without several big names, a disappointing result after a promising sequence of preseason victories. The list of games has not been kind to Everton, who are now facing another of Europe’s best teams … but any kind of result against the champions will give a huge boost to a squad that has set their sights on the standings. for the Champions League.
Start: 12.30 pm BST.
www.theguardian.com