Liverpool forward relishing opportunity to play Merseyside Derby on the opening day of WSL

2nd September 2025 Oliver Taliku
Sophie Roman Haug is looking forward to starting the season with a Merseyside Derby

Liverpool kick off their season with a Merseyside Derby this weekend and striker Sophie Román Haug is buzzing to start the new campaign against bitter rivals Everton.

Everton make the trip to Anfield on Sunday, September 7th for the WSL opening game.

Sophie Román Haug excited to start season at Anfield

This year Liverpool will kick off their campaign at Anfield in one of the most exciting fixtures on opening weekend.

Sophie Román Haug has played for the Reds over the past two seasons but this will be her first under new boss Gareth Taylor.

“It’s been good.” Román Haug said on her pre-season experience. “It’s been nice to be back with the girls and getting back into training and everything. It’s a good way to practice different kinds of things that we want to get settled before the season starts.”

Liverpool have struggled during pre-season with no wins in their four fixtures.

Despite the lack of positive results, the mood around the Liverpool team remains good with a huge game coming up at Anfield this weekend.

“It’s truly magical to play at Anfield. It’s a great stadium, great fans in the stands and just the whole setting around is very special, so to be able to play here is something else. We’re really looking forward to that and also to be able to kick-off the season here against Everton.

“It’s got to be a good start, it’s something a little extra with the derby. 
It’s extra special when it’s against Everton because you always want to beat them. We’re all really ready to get kicked-off; we’ve been really concentrated and focused over pre-season to get a proper start to the season.”

Reds looking to improve

Liverpool were disappointing in the WSL last season as they finished a distant 7th in the league.

The Reds didn’t even manage to pick up half the amount of points that the champions, Chelsea, did.

“Everyone is very excited for the season to come and ready to get properly started because we want to do better than we did last year. Obviously, we also want to take steps and improve ourselves, so we’re excited to get going.

“I got injured last season and it’s frustrating when you can’t really help the team in the way that you want to when you’re stuck on the sidelines. I’m hoping that things will be different this season and I’ll be able to have more of an impact as well. It’ll help [us] to reach the goals that we want to achieve and to be able to hopefully score some goals as well.”

This year both Liverpool and Román Haug have a fresh start under new manager Gareth Taylor.

Liverpool kick off their WSL season against Everton at 12:00 on Sunday afternoon.

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About Oliver Taliku 177 Articles
Olly Taliku has worked with highly respected sports and gambling websites where he has produced hundreds of articles, as well as being published with Burton Albion and Chesterfield FC. At Burton Olly worked closely alongside the women's team, producing mainly matchday content including reports and interviews. He also has experience as an accredited Premier League and EFL writer for Prost International where he worked during the 2021/22 season to produce matchday content as an on location reporter. Olly specialises in women's football as well as long form SEO content plus news and tips. While he enjoys writing about all football, Olly supports Arsenal passionately as a lifelong fan of the club.