‘It’s set up to be a real top tie’ – Roberts looks ahead to Brighton’s trip to Everton | OneFootball

Brighton & Hove Albion’s assistant head coach Chris Roberts says that this weekend’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Everton will be a really challenging game.

The Seagulls travel to Merseyside to face an Everton side that are yet to win at their new permanent home of Goodison Park.

The fixture brings back fond memories for Roberts who spent a long period on the Everton coaching staff while he says that games against The Toffees are always ultra-competitive.

“I had five or six seasons there and my family are still up there, so I’m looking forward to taking the team up to play them,” Roberts said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.

“It’s an historic venue [at Goodison Park] and games against Everton have always been exciting, we’ve enjoyed them but they’re always a challenge. They’re a strong team with some really technical players, so it’s set up to be a real top tie.”

Reflecting on Everton’s home form, Roberts said that moving to a new stadium can be a challenge but he is mindful that wins will begin to flow at some point.

He said “It can be [tough]. When we are trying to grow the game, teams will have games at their usual stadium and then a few games at the men’s stadium. While that’s exciting and the right thing to do, it’s also not your own pitch, so it takes time with one-off games or in Everton’s case it’s now their real home.

“I try not to read into those things, records are to be broken but hopefully, that record of not winning at home doesn’t change against us.

“They’re always a top team; they’re tactically well-organised and have good players, so we expect a tough game.”

Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Dario Vidošić is currently on a period of leave to attend to family matters back home in Australia. Roberts said that there is no update on when he may return to work.

He said “There’s no timeframe set at the moment. It’s about respecting his privacy but also offering a lot of support and care for Dario and his family. Whenever he returns, we look forward to that but we are also prepared and ready to make sure the team are in the best possible place for each game.

“We will continue for the foreseeable future as we are. We are in a good place and when Dario does return, we will be happy for that as well.”

Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Everton kicks-off at 7pm on Friday night.