Lucy Graham says Everton is a “great place to be” as anticipation reaches fever pitch ahead of the new FA Barclays Women’s Super League season.

Willie Kirk’s swiftly-evolving team scored 10 goals without reply in their final two pre-season games, against Blackburn Rovers and Durham Women.

Midfielder Graham was at the hub of a proficient Everton display on Sunday, with Championship Durham put to the sword at Walton Hall Park.

Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah’s last-minute double and a first Everton goal for Izzy Christansen added to strikes before half-time from Megan Finnigan and Nicoline Sorensen to complete a 5-0 win.

Everton coasted to a similar victory over Blackburn four days ago.

The majority of manager Kirk’s slew of summer signings and winter transfer window captures Christiansen and Hayley Raso have gained valuable playing time over the past month.

And, in the opinion of 23-year-old Scotland international Graham, it all adds up to a promising outlook with next weekend’s opening league fixture at Bristol City racing into view.

“The new girls have settled straight away and it is one of the great things about Everton that the Club is so welcoming,” Graham told evertonfc.com.

“I felt I slotted in very well when I came last season.

“Everton is a great place to be, we have fantastic facilities and are really well looked after by the fitness staff and management.

“Everyone has fitted in really well and we are all raring to go.

“The countdown to the first game has been on since the beginning of March.

“It was a really good performance against Durham, with a lot of good goals, and we are in a good place going into the first game of the season.”

Graham, whose relentless running must have broken her Durham opponents' hearts, is poised for her second Everton campaign after transferring from next Sunday’s opponents Bristol City last summer.

Kirk named the former Hibernian player team skipper shortly after her arrival, with 28-year-old Dan Turner, an Everton Academy graduate, retaining the Club captaincy she inherited in 2017.

Turner, an FA Cup finalist with Everton in 2014, revealed this week that the buzz of excitement forming around her club right now is like nothing she's known.

Graham identifies with her teammate's sentiment and the first opportunity to gain something tangible to show for the optimism shared throughout Everton's dressing room comes at the new Twerton Park home of Bristol City, the club Graham left last summer.

“Dan is part of the furniture here, she bleeds blue and has seen a lot of faces come and go," said Graham.

“It is exciting she feels that way about the team and great to be part of that.

“She spurs us all on and everybody is really excited about what is to come.

“I have a lot of good memories and good friends at Bristol.

“But as soon as you go on the pitch it is down to business.

“They have a new home so it will be different for them but something new for us, too.

“I am feeling really fresh and good and excited to get going again."

Everton’s game with Bristol City will represent a return to competitive action after a barren period stretching more than six months.

The 2019/20 WSL season was curtailed following the coronavirus outbreak, with Everton last playing when they hosted Manchester United on 23 February.

Kirk’s squad was reunited at USM Finch Farm in mid-July and has steadily moved through the gears in readiness for a campaign when Everton will target an improvement on last term’s sixth-place finish.

“A lot of us hadn’t kicked a ball in four or five months when we came back and initially there was some hesitancy and a lot of stray passes,” added Graham.

“That is what the training is for and from week to week, you feel it clicking again.

“Your game awareness returns.

“There has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes and we’ve been ticking off various stages in our progression.

“It has been so long [since a league fixture] but it is the same for everybody.

“It will be different playing with no fans for a while but the team which adapts best will come out on top.

“Overall, we are really chuffed with pre-season and looking forward to getting started.”