🏏 Sun, 28 Sep 2025 12:00 BST
Brighton Women
vs
Everton Women
Positions estimated (no formation data from the API)
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Few WSL fixtures carry more Japanese interest than this one. Brighton start winger Takako Seike and centre-back Moeka Minami, with 20-year-old holding midfielder Fuka Tsunoda on the bench after her September arrival. Everton field Japan midfielder Honoka Hayashi in the engine room, with left-back Hikaru Kitagawa among the substitutes, making five Japanese internationals involved across the two squads.
- Brighton's Japanese contingent is bound together by Urawa Reds Ladies. Minami joined permanently in June 2025 after helping Roma to back-to-back Serie A titles, reuniting her with former Urawa team-mate Seike. Seike arrived as the WE League's 2023-24 top scorer, MVP and Best XI selection, while Tsunoda won five domestic honours at Urawa, including two WE League titles, before making the move to England.
- Everton's midfield anchor is 27-year-old Honoka Hayashi, who crossed from West Ham in the summer of 2024 after an earlier spell at AIK in Sweden. Listed as a defensive midfielder, she is best known for the winning goal that ended Chelsea's 34-match unbeaten run, and at 157cm she relies on anticipation and timing rather than size to cut off Brighton's supply lines.
- Brighton's forward line features two Arsenal loanees. On the left, 22-year-old Sweden international Rosa Kafaji arrives with 28 goals for BK Hacken and four more in the Champions League. Through the middle, Michelle Agyemang made her WSL debut at 16 and was named young player of the tournament at Euro 2025; the 19-year-old scored just 41 seconds into her senior England debut.
- The hosts balance that youth with two seasoned creators. Fran Kirby, the 32-year-old nicknamed 'Mini Messi', won the PFA Player of the Year award twice at Chelsea before moving to the south coast in 2024. Alongside her is Serbia's Jelena Cankovic, also a 2024 signing, who won two WSL titles with Chelsea and has Champions League mileage from spells at Barcelona and Rosengard.
- Everton have rebuilt their back line. Ruby Mace, 22, joined from Leicester in September 2025 for a club-record fee and can operate at centre-back or in defensive midfield, having previously been on the books at Manchester City and Arsenal. Next to her is Martina Fernandez, the left-footed 20-year-old Spaniard from Barcelona's academy who won back-to-back U-19 European Championships. How quickly that new pairing settles matters.
- Katja Snoeijs leads the Everton line. The 29-year-old Netherlands striker, a product of PSV and Twente, wore her country's number nine in Vivianne Miedema's absence at the 2023 World Cup and scored seven WSL goals in 2022-23. Her back-to-goal work will be tested by Brighton's centre-back pair of Republic of Ireland international Caitlin Hayes, signed from Celtic in January 2025, and Minami.
- The goalkeeping duel is a strong one. Brighton's Chiamaka Nnadozie, 24, joined from Paris FC in the summer of 2025 and is Nigeria's first choice, using her 180cm frame to dominate her area and collecting a CAF award in 2025. Everton's Emily Ramsey stands at the same height and, at 24, has already passed through Manchester United and Liverpool while representing England at every youth level.
- Both benches hold genuine options. Brighton can turn to Carla Camacho, the 20-year-old Spanish winger signed from Real Madrid in August 2025 with U-17 World Cup and U-19 European titles behind her, plus French centre-back Maelys Mpome, a WSL title winner at Chelsea. Everton keep back Toni Payne, the Nigeria forward with 169 Sevilla appearances and 2023 World Cup experience.