Everton Women are looking to bounce back from defeat at Liverpool as they host Birmingam City at Goodison Park on Sunday
Head coach Scott Phelan speaks to Ruby Mace during the WSL match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 27, 2026
Head coach Scott Phelan speaks to Ruby Mace during the WSL match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 27, 2026(Image: Matt McNulty - WSL Football via Getty Images)
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Head coach Scott Phelan insists Everton Women remain in good spirits despite their 2-0 Merseyside Derby defeat to Liverpool as they look to go into the first international break of the new season on the back of another win over Birmingham City.
Everton were beaten 2-0 at Anfield last Sunday – their third consecutive loss to Liverpool since Phelan took the reins in February. As a Scouser and former Blues reserve team and Under-21s captain, the hat-trick of reversals this year against their local rivals will hurt but the 38-year-old believes his squad have stayed level-headed.
Phelan said: “I don’t think the mood has been affected too much. The girls have been in good spirits.
“We had a rest day on Monday after the game and returned on Tuesday so maybe that helped but we reflected on the game when we returned on our first day and then focused fully on the challenge ahead this week with Birmingham. So, I wouldn’t suggest that the mood has been affected too much.
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“It works both ways. When we win, we don’t over-celebrate and when we lose, we don’t batter ourselves too much and get down in the dumps.
“There is always a process to follow, win or lose, and we’ve followed it throughout this week and that seems to have worked so far this season so there’s no reason to move too far away from that. There is more emotion attached to a derby game of course but the process that we choose to take in terms of reflecting stays the same.
“That’s done. We take our learnings from it and look forward to Sunday.”
Everton have already defeated Birmingham City 2-0 just a week-and-a-half ago in a Women’s Players Cup group stage encounter at Goodison Park but while Phelan is encouraged by that result, he doesn’t believe his team can take anything for granted today.
He said: “I think both teams made quite a few changes that night. We were pleased with how we performed and two of our players did score on that night so that was nice.
“Listen, we’d be foolish to take any certainties from the cup game. We can take confidence of course and maybe some information about how the opponent plays but we won’t be counting our chickens.
“We know how hard we have to work for every point that we earn and Sunday will be no different.
“We want to win games of football. Whether that’s at the start, the middle or the end of the season.
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“If we do win on Sunday that would be four wins out of the six games we’d have played, including the cup, so that would be a decent enough start and definitely something to build on moving forward.”
Although Slovenian international Zara Kramzar and Japan international Yuka Momiki netted for the Blues that night, the latter’s stoppage time winner at West Ham United on September 20 is the only goal scored so far this season by an Everton player in a Women’s Super League match.
Phelan claims not to be worried about his team’s firepower but maintains it’s something they are looking to improve. He said: “It’s not a concern but it’s an area we’re working on. We have managed to win games which is ultimately the most important stat.
“We’ve been dominant in probably all the games we’ve played apart from the Liverpool one, so that would be more of a concern if we weren’t being purposeful in our game and not showing our personality on the pitch. The final part is something that we’ll continue to work on and will hopefully improve sooner rather than later.”
Everton Women v Birmingham City kicks off at 2pm today at Goodison Park. Tickets are £12 for adults and £6 for Juniors (U18s).
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