Identical twins Sara and Karen Holmgaard do not fear the challenge of Rachel Daly and Aston Villa as Everton look to return to winning ways in the Women's Super League.

The Toffees were held by Bristol City last weekend but can leapfrog their opponents with victory in Birmingham.

With just one win in the league so far, head coach Brian Sorensen has been boosted by the Holmgaards' return to full fitness after they both suffered injuries early in the campaign.

Karen, 24, told LiveScore: "In training and the games we are trying to do our best.

"We are working hard as players and giving all to the team on the pitch and off the pitch to try and pick up more wins.

"It's still quite early in the season. Of course it's frustrating that we have not got the results, but we need to stick together and focus on training and the games.

"We will stick to our game plan every week and we are not stressed about the results. 

"I feel that if we have the belief then we can take the three points and then the next game is really exciting."

Heroes vs Villans

Villa finished as the best of the rest in the WSL last season and 22 of their 47 goals across the 2022-23 campaign were scored by Golden Boot winner Daly.

The England international has bagged three times already this term but Karen insists that Everton are focusing on the threat of the entire team and not individuals.

She said: "Daly is a really, really good player but we are talking about the team we are playing against this weekend.

"We have not highlighted Daly because there are a lot of good players in every team.

"She's just a player for us and we need to do our best. If we do the best, I think we can get something out of it and she will be struggling hopefully."

Competing with the best

It has been a long journey to the top for the Holmgaard sisters, who arrived in England during the summer of 2022, but they are now established players in one of the world's best leagues.

Having spent time in their native Denmark before heading to Germany with Potsdam, Sara now believes she and her sister are thriving in the most competitive division in women's football.

She said: "The league over here is the most competitive league in the world right now. 

"You can see that every team can beat each other. Especially after the Euros last year you can see the development is huge. It's amazing to play in.

"It's a perfect match. We were in Germany before and the culture is much better here. Everyone is friendly and welcome."

Constant competition

Competing with your identical twin in professional football is certain to throw up some challenges but the sisters insist they have always supported each other's development over the years.

The pair have always wanted to achieve their goals and dreams together and Sara admits Karen being called up to the Danish national side before her was "tough".

Sara said: "It's something special, to have each other, so we are not living alone. It's just a normal life for us because we have got used to it.

"It was tough when we took the step to go away on the senior national team, Karen was called up first. My dream was also to come up, so I was struggling a bit."

Karen added: "We're better when we help each other on and off the pitch. In some periods it's more difficult for me and vice versa, but that's life sometimes.

"We have always had the same goals, and we have been following each other our whole life."