Hope Powell believes Everton have medium term goals to push for the top three and a Champions League place.

But her own Albion side are right behind the WSL giants in one respect.

Albion visit the Toffees at Walton Hall Park today (5.30pm) as they return to Barclays FA WSL action.

Powell was pleasantly surprised to hear a particular stat as she travelled to Merseyside with the team yesterday.

Albion, she was informed, have won nine of their last 14 league matches, going back to February.

Only the big three Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal can better that.

Powell said: “Everyone would say we have moved on from where we were last season and part of that was consistency.

“We have approached it quite well up until this point but we really need to sustain that during the course of the season. That is the aim.

“I’m really pleased. That’s a nice stat to have and to share but we have just got to build on that.”

Everton have brought in former Lyon boss Jean-Luc Vasseur to help realise their lofty ambitions.

Albion managed to get some idea of what changes he could make as he took charge for the first time at Leicester in the Conti Cup in midweek.

Powell said: “We needed that, otherwise we were going in pretty blind.

“There might not be many changes but there will definitely be some subtle changes.

“They have brought somebody in with a track record.

“They spent a lot during the summer, they brought in quite a few new players with good pedigree.

“I guess the expectation would be to kick them on and the future would be Champions League, be in that top three.

“I think that was the reason for the spend during the summer.”

Powell expects a positive response from her side to last Sunday’s 3-0 defeat away to Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Albion reached half-time goalless and she said: “We will be looking to retain the ball a lot better and defend in the same manner.”