Ho on Everton in N17: “Embrace it and perform to a level we know we can”

A rejuvenated Everton side are the visitors to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Sunday (11.55am UK) – but Martin Ho is keen to keep the ‘focus on ourselves’.

Following the appointment of Scott Phelan on an interim basis until the end of the season, the Toffees have immediately changed their fortunes and head into the clash in north London with a run of three consecutive wins in the WSL.

Prior to the recent international break, we produced a stunning performance at Aston Villa, running out 7-3 winners in the midlands, before securing our spot in the quarter-final of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup after a dramatic penalty shootout success over London City Lionesses.

While Martin acknowledges the threats that Everton now pose under Phelan, our Head Coach is keen to focus on ‘ourselves’ and implementing our own game plan.

“We focus a lot on ourselves,” he told us, speaking to SPURSPLAY to look ahead to the fixture. “You have an eye on the opposition because you have to, we respect them and we need to find ways that we can put a strategy together to capitalise on the game.

“I know the manager very well, Scott. I know how diligent he is as a coach, how organised he is and how good of a coach he is, so I know they're going to be hard to play against. They're going to have a very clear DNA of being resilient and fighting, but they're also going to be very brave with the ball.

“But all the focus for us this week is how we're going to implement our game plan, how we're going to apply ourselves in the phases of the game to make sure that we can come out on top and hopefully put on a bit of a show as well.”

With this being our second fixture at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, falling to a narrow defeat to Chelsea last month, Martin wants his players to embrace every minute in north London and be brave in their performance.

“Just more embrace it again, enjoy the occasion and perform to a level we know we can,” he added, when asked what his final message to the player will be on Sunday.

“The players that start, make sure you give absolutely everything, and the players that come into the game will finish the game for us. But we need to make sure we start with very clear principles of how we want to look and how we should behave as a team.

“If we do that and we fight, we play brave like we always do and we find those levels of consistency within the game, I feel we can get there. But it's more just for them to be brave and enjoy it.”