The match was played at the Finch Farm complex in Halewood, where Everton's women's team train. The Toffees new-look attack, featuring Australia forward Holly McNamara, will hope to gel during their relatively easy start to the campaign in their second season at the historic Goodison Park. McNamara, signed from Melbourne City, won back-to-back Golden Boot awards in the A-League.
Everton's transfer business has been positive this summer, with the arrivals of Jutta Rantala, Noémie Mouchon and Hannah Cain from relegated Leicester City, as well as turning the Slovenia midfielder Zara Kramzar's loan move from Roma into a permanent deal. Last season's loan move for Hannah Blundell from Manchester United has also been converted into a permanent transfer, which was revealed in unusual circumstances, with the 32-year-old emerging from a make-shift 'coffin' during an amusing walkout at May's World Sevens Football event in London.
The latest set of financial accounts showed Everton's wage bill to be five times smaller than Chelsea's, illustrating the financial gulf between the Merseysiders and those challenging at the top of the Women's Super League. Everton's women's team was sold to the men's parent company, Roundhouse Capital Holdings, last year in a move that was understood to be largely aimed at helping ensure the men's team's compliance with the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).