Aston Villavs.Man City Women

The hosts are sitting in second place and level on points with leaders Chelsea, while the Villans will enter Saturday's clash in seventh place.

Match preview

Carla Ward is set to take charge of her final game as Aston Villa boss after she announced her departure earlier this month.

The Aston Villa manager is guaranteed to finish her final campaign in seventh place, having seen her side collect 24 points from their 21 matches.

Alisha Lehmann scored the decisive goal in Aston Villa's most recent outing, securing a 1-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion to end a four-game winless run.

The Villans will now turn their focus to Saturday's clash at Villa Park, where they will attempt to end a six-game winless home in all competitions.

The hosts will be the underdogs against the WSL title hopefuls, but they will be able to take confidence from the fact they have recorded a 4-3 victory in last season's home league meeting with Man City.

After winning 14 consecutive league games, Man City appeared to be on course to claim another victory when Lauren Hemp gave her side an early lead in the recent clash with third-placed Arsenal.

However, the Citizens were caught out by a late Arsenal fightback, conceding twice in three minutes to fall to a narrow 2-1 defeat.

Chelsea capitalised on Man City's slip-up, thrashing Bristol City 8-0 before winning their game in hand over Tottenham to move to the top of the table with a small goal difference advantage over Gareth Taylor's side.

With Man City now two goals shy of the leaders, they will need to better Chelsea's result against Manchester United or win by three goals or more if their title rivals claim three points.

The Citizens have recorded seven consecutive away league victories, and they will be encouraged by the fact they have won each of their previous three away matches by a minimum of three goals.

Aston Villa Women Women's Super League form:

W

L

D

L

D

W

Manchester City Women Women's Super League form:

W

W

W

W

W

L

Team News

Aston Villa are unable to call upon goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar and midfielder Lucy Staniforth due to hip and ankle injuries.

Lucy Parker is pushing for a starting place after returning from injury to play the final 35 minutes against Brighton.

England international Rachel Daly will be looking to add to her seven-goal league tally when she leads the line at Villa Park.

As for the visitors, they remain without the services of Ellie Roebuck, Sandy MacIver, Jill Roord and Bunny Shaw.

Despite seeing his side give up a narrow lead, Taylor is expected to select the same lineup that started the recent defeat to Arsenal.

Hemp will provide one of Man City's main attacking outlets, having scored 10 goals and provided seven assists in 20 league appearances.

Aston Villa Women possible starting lineup:

Leat; Mayling, Patten, Turner, Maritz; Nobbs, Parker; Lehmann, Dali, Hanson; Daly

Manchester City Women possible starting lineup:

Keating; Casparij, Aleixandri, Greenwood, Ouahabi; Park, Hasegawa, Coombs; Fowler, Hemp, Kelly

We say: Aston Villa Women 1-3 Manchester City Women

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