Everton defender Elise Stenevik says she and her teammates want to play for "pride" in the coming weeks after a challenging season at Walton Hall Park.

The Blues are currently 10th in the Women's Super League (WSL) table, nine points clear of the relegation zone with four games left to play. It has been a campaign blighted by injuries to a number of key players - with Stenevik herself having spent a lengthy spell on the sidelines - but the Norwegian is hopeful the next few matches will allow Brian Sorensen's side to really show what they're made of.

"As a team, there have been ups and downs," she tells the ECHO. "The ups have been how we have progressed as a team in the way that we play, the downs is not getting points, especially in the FA Cup quarter-finals against Chelsea. We’re happy with the progress we’re making but we know we still have a way to go."

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Stenevik joined Everton from Swedish side Eskilstuna United in the summer of 2022 and helped the Blues secure a top six finish in the WSL last term. After some promising cameos in her debut campaign on Merseyside, it was frustrating for the 24-year-old to have to spend the first half of this season grappling with a calf injury that saw her make just one appearance before the turn of the year.

However, Stenevik credits her teammates with helping her keep her spirits high in a difficult few months. "At the start of my injury period it was okay," she reflects.

"I’d accepted the injury within a few days and then I was just coming in and supporting the team. Then I was supposed to be coming back but then I got another injury which kept me out for six weeks.

"That was the tough part because we didn’t know what we were doing wrong so it was just about doing the same things and hoping for a different result. I didn’t know when I’d be back in the team but it does help when you come in and have a lot of supportive teammates around you. If it wasn’t for that, I think I would have been really down."

Since returning to full fitness, though, Stenevik has been close to an ever-present in Sorensen's side and became the first Norwegian - male or female - to net for the club in a narrow defeat to Aston Villa last month.

"When it happened, I didn’t even think about it being my first goal in the moment," she says. "Then I heard I was the first Norwegian to score for the club. It’s not something I really think about now but I’m sure when I’m older it’s something I will tell the grandchildren.

"I was out for quite a long time and then I was straight into playing 90 minutes back-to-back so my body wasn't quite used to that. There’s always complications coming back from injury but you just have to push through that and make your body adapt. This is the first time in my life I’m having 90 minutes of this intensity every week so I just want to stay the rest of the season without injury and go from there."

In spite of the significant adversity Everton have had to contend with this term, Stenevik insists the togetherness within the squad is stronger than ever. And it is that sense of unity that the Norwegian hopes will help the Blues pick up more points in the final weeks of the season, with Friday's trip to Brighton & Hove Albion the next opportunity for Sorensen's side to demonstrate their quality.

"I’ve been lucky in my career that I’ve always been in teams where it’s been a really good environment and I see that here as well," she says. "There are a lot of great people and when great people are themselves, they pull everyone else up as well. I see a lot of people getting more comfortable with being themselves in the team. It’s a great team of humans as well as players.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say we want to turn performances into points. Everyone is excited to try and get some more points on the board because we don’t think the table reflects the level we’re at. I think there’s a little bit of pride (on the line) for every player so it’s about climbing the table but also about how we improve as a team."