Everton v Chelsea: Women’s Super League – live! | Football

45 mins: We go into a single minute of stoppage time, which starts with Everton’s first corner, the result of their first shot.

41 mins: Chelsea hit the bar! Finnigan does well to challenge Harder but the ball rolls to Cuthbert, who from 25 yards sends a lovely shot over Korpela but off the bar and behind!

39 mins: Chelsea are really dominating possession now, but the game is being played at quite the pace, and there’s a general lack of accuracy about proceedings.

36 mins: Everton give the ball away inside their own half, and Kirby races with it towards the penalty area, but once she gets there she takes a heavy touch, and it’s stolen away again.

35 mins: Ji hits another shot from outside the area, but this one is straight at Korpela.

33 mins: Magill slides in to turn the ball behind for a corner. Chelsea are winning an awful lot of them, but Everton are defending them very well, and head this latest one away.

29 mins: Disallowed goal! Chelsea’s left-wing corner is headed out, then played back to Bright, who from near the byline and wide on the right sends in a low cross that ends up in the back of the net! It’s not clear who turned it in, but whoever it was was offside.

27 mins: Berger flaps badly at a left-wing cross, and is lucky to see it run safely out of the area.

26 mins: Save! Kerr’s shot hits a defender and deflects to Harder, who from wide to the right of goal hits low and hard but too close to Korpela, who pushes it away.

24 mins: Raso’s poor clearance rolls to Ji, on the edge of the area, whose shot deflects back of Raso and wide.

20 mins: Everton attack down the right again, but Sorensen’s cross is poor and goes straight into touch.

19 mins: Kirby thumps a long-range shot wide from 30 yards.

17 mins: The home side get half a chance, as a cross from the right is half-cleared to Scott on the edge of the area, but instead of shooting she shuffles the ball back out wide.

17 mins: By contrast Everton come forward, but a pass wide towards Raso is rubbish, and goes out for a throw-in.

16 mins: Chelsea played two through-balls in a minute there that were pure quality, the first for Harder and the second for Kirby.

The visitors take the lead on the break! Everton have a good spell of possession, but when it breaks down Chelsea rip them apart with two passes: Ji to Kerr, inside the centre circle, and a first-time through-ball to release Kirby, who slides the ball past Korpela!

12 mins: A lovely ball from Andersson to Harder, who gets in down the left and plays in a low cross-shot that goes wide of the far post.

11 mins: Given that there was a penalty award inside the first 60 seconds it’s been a pretty low-drama opening. Other than the spot kick there have been no clear chances for either side.

8 mins: Kirby plays Cuthbert into the penalty area, but Sevecke comes across to steal the ball with a perfectly-timed challenge.

7 mins: Everton win a free-kick on the left, which Christiansen sends into the box, but Chelsea head clear.

3 mins: It was apparently a handball, that’s all I’ve got for you. I can confirm that Tinja-Riikka Korpela certainly got her hands to the ball shortly afterwards.

2 mins: SAVED! Leupolz puts it at a nice height, to her left, and Korpela goes the right way and pushes it round the post!

1 min: Chelsea have a penalty! I must admit I’ve no idea why, due to a hopefully temporary FA Player glitch.

The players are on the pitch! Everton are in their traditional blue, Chelsea are also in blue but not their traditional hue.

Here’s a photo for you. It is not exactly revelatory, but it does confirm that Chelsea have indeed turned up.

I’d love to show you a live picture of the stadium, but there are none that I’m allowed to use. I can tell you it looks like a lovely evening at Walton Hall Park, and that the venue is looking remarkably chipper given that it was apparently victim of an arson attack last week.

Team news is in, and this is what it looks like. Everton make five changes, with Korpela, George, Graham, Magill and Sorensen coming in:

Everton: Korpela; Sevecke, George, Christiansen, Magill, Emslie, Sorensen, Raso, Graham, Scott, Finnigan. Subs: Kirby, Moe Wold, Boye-Hlorkah, Lehmann, Stringer, Gauvin, Clemaron, Clinton, Pattinson.
Chelsea: Berger; Bright, Leupolz, Ji, Kirby, Eriksson, Kerr, Charles, Cuthbert, Harder, Andersson. Subs: Musovic, Telford, Blundell, Carter, Reiten, Fleming, Spence, Fox, Wardlaw.
Referee: Emily Heaslip.

Everton have had a completely consistent season: they have lost to Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal, the only teams now above them in the table, every time they have played them, and they have not lost to anyone else. Never has a league position been more appropriate than their current fifth place. They are demonstrably less good than every team above them, and demonstrably not worse than any of the teams below them.

The same can’t be said of Chelsea, who last month lost 2-1 at home to then-struggling Brighton, ending an unbeaten league run that stretched back a frankly offensive 33 games. That is the one game that gives Everton some hope, and it was an absolute freak: Chelsea had 30 shots in the game. Thirty! That’s twice as many as Manchester City’s men manage in an average fixture, and comfortably more than the Premier League leaders have managed in any single league game this season (they did, to be fair, manage 27 against Aston Villa on the opening day of the season; the most Chelsea’s men have managed in a single game is 25, and that was against Morecambe in the FA Cup). Brighton meanwhile had three. I supposed it proved that miracles can happen in this game, and Everton will be hoping for another one.

Whatever happens, there should be plenty of entertainment. The last time Chelsea were involved in a goalless game in any competition was at Birmingham in October 2018, getting on for two and a half years ago. Everton’s was comparatively recent, at Brighton in January 2019. Here’s hoping for some fun, and certainly a few goals. Welcome!