Everton Women’s boss Brian Sorensen spoke to the media ahead of the Blues upcoming clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

Everton defender Nathalie Bjorn will miss this weekend’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur after suffering a hamstring injury while away on international duty with Sweden.

Bjorn has been one of the Blues’ most consistent performers since Brian Sorensen was appointed manager last summer and has started all of Everton’s games so far this term. The centre-back was substituted at half-time in Sweden’s UEFA Women’s Nations League meeting with Italy on Tuesday and is now set to be unavailable for the next “couple of weeks”.

“It’s unfortunate when Elise (Stenevik) and Sara (Holmgaard) are out also,” Sorensen said in his pre-match press conference. “It’s a lot of defenders (out injured).

“Losing Gabby George (to Manchester United) also – she could fill that role. We have to think a bit different about our shape from what we would normally do because we’re missing a centre-back that plays a lot for us. But I’m confident we have the skills in the team to deal with it.

It’s a big blow for Everton, who were beaten 5-0 by Man United last time out before the international break. “I said after the game, it’s hard to play that game better,” Sorensen said, reflecting on the bruising defeat.

“We have 50% possession against a team like Manchester United. Not many teams in this league are doing that. But if you look at the goals from our point of view they were really soft. We didn’t deal with the situations very well. It was individual mistakes.