Crystal Palace will be heavily fancied to defeat Coventry United at Hayes Lane on Saturday evening but midfielder Aimee Everett says that The Eagles won’t be taking the threat of the Warwickshire club lightly.
In the short term, Coventry United have moved away from a full-time operating model, resulting in major changes in playing staff over the summer. New head coach Lee Burch has brought 12 new players to the club, many of which signed just days before the start of the 2022/2023 campaign.
Coventry United lost their opening match of the season 1-0 to Bristol City at the Butts Park Arena last weekend. Meanwhile, a star-studded Crystal Palace side got their promotion push off to the perfect start with a gritty victory at London City Lionesses by the same scoreline.
This weekend’s clash at Hayes Lane arguably sees one of the fancied sides for promotion face the relegation favourites. When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of the match, Crystal Palace midfielder Everett said that her side will not be underestimating their latest opponents.
“Coventry have brought in a number of players and they’ve probably had a tough pre-season,” Everett said. “It is important with games like this that you don’t underestimate the opposition at all, a 1-0 result against Bristol was a very good result for them.
“We need to focus on ourselves but obviously be aware that we cannot underestimate them because in this league anyone can win games.”
Crystal Palace have brought in 15 new faces themselves over the summer including several players with Barclays Women’s Super League experience. Everett believes that top flight know-how could be important in The Eagles achieving their promotion dream.
She said “We’ve got a lot more players who have played in that top league this year and that’s hugely important because they know what it takes to get there. They can bring their experiences to us younger ones in the group and those players who haven’t experienced the top level. It is massively important for us and I think everyone in the group learns something from those more experienced players.”
Last weekend saw the Barclays Women’s Championship announce an average attendance of 1,084. Everett went on to say that she would love to see some new faces join the Crystal Palace faithful in the stands this weekend.
“There has been a huge uproar about women’s football off the back of the EUROs, some of the attendances last week were crazy,” Everett said.
“I think there might have been more Palace fans than London City last weekend. Our fans were brilliant and hopefully, we can get a big crowd at Hayes Lane and some new faces would be lovely. When the crowd are behind you, they’re your 12th man and they can help improve your performance on the pitch.”
Tickets for Saturday’s fixture against Coventry United and for Crystal Palace’s return to Selhurst Park against Southampton on Sunday 18 September are on-sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.
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