Brighton and Hove Albion head coach Melissa Phillips says that her side are only focused on their performance at Everton this weekend.
The Seagulls are a maximum of two points away from securing Barclays Women’s Super League safety. Brighton & Hove Albion could be safe on Saturday evening if relegation rivals Reading fail to win at Tottenham Hotspur.
When speaking ahead of the Everton fixture, Brighton & Hove Albion boss Phillips said that her side will only be focusing on themselves and getting a positive result on Merseyside.
“We will focus on our own performance,” Phillips said. “Of course, that game matters in terms of the table; it is a huge game for both teams.
“We will be mindful of the result but Saturday is about preparation for us and focusing on the match and the task at hand on Sunday.”
Everton were defeated 4-1 by Arsenal at Walton Hall Park on Wednesday evening and Phillips anticipates a reaction from the Merseyside club this weekend.
She said “We’ve looked at recent form and I’m sure that Everton will be expecting a response. It was a difficult game for them on Wednesday.
“They will be prepared. They are always a high calibre team to play in terms of their in-possession qualities, so that is something that we know we can expect and prepare for ourselves.
“We know we can score goals but equally, we need to find different ways of doing that against teams in the top half of the table which Everton are. We have to be really robust behind the ball which is something that we have focused on all along. We will look at areas where we can exploit them and areas where we need to be prepared ourselves in terms of how dynamic and adaptable they are within multiple systems and their fluidity to change throughout games. All of these things factor into our preparation.”
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Everton kicks-off at 1pm on Sunday afternoon.