Preview: Aston Villa Women vs. Chelsea Women - prediction, team news, lineups

The Villans will head into the contest in a confident mood, having avoided defeat in each of their last eight competitive matches.

Match preview

Aston Villa continued their impressive run of form by claiming a fourth consecutive league victory last weekend.

The Villans eased past basement side Leicester City thanks to braces from Alisha Lehmann and Rachel Daly after Kenza Dali had opened the scoring.

With six games to go, Carla Ward's charges look set to end the campaign in fifth position, which would be an improvement on last season's ninth-place finish.

They will now focus on two important home games against Chelsea, beginning with their league meeting this weekend, before they face the Blues in the FA Cup semi-finals after the international break.

Having avoided defeat in five straight home matches in all competitions, the Villans will be hopeful that they can cause the reigning WSL champions some problems on Sunday.

After their 14-game unbeaten WSL run was ended by Man City last weekend, Chelsea had to pick themselves up for Thursday's Champions League quarter-final second leg with reigning European champions Lyon.

Boasting a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Chelsea protected their narrow advantage until the 77th minute when Vanessa Gilles squeezed the ball home at the near post to send the tie to extra time.

Chelsea's European dreams looked to have been crushed when Sara Dabritz gave Lyon the lead, but there was to be one final twist, as Maren Mjelde held her nerve to dispatch a late spot-kick in the eighth minute of stoppage time, ensuring the tie would be decided by penalties.

The Blues managed to prevail in the subsequent penalty shootout to set up a semi-final with Barcelona, but they will quickly have to turn their focus to Sunday's contest as they aim to get their WSL title bid back on track.

Emma Hayes's side currently occupy third place, but they are just a point adrift of Manchester City and Manchester United, who have both played a game more than the Blues.

Aston Villa Women Women's Super League form:

D

D

W

W

W

W

Aston Villa Women form (all competitions):

Chelsea Women Women's Super League form:

W

D

W

W

W

L

Chelsea Women form (all competitions):

W

W

W

W

L

W

Team News

Ward has revealed that Sarah Mayling is likely to miss a second straight game through injury, although the Villa boss indicated that the defender could return for the FA Cup semi-final in two weeks' time.

The hosts are also unable to call upon Remi Allen, Simone Magill, Meaghan Sargeant and Natasha Harding.

Ruesha Littlejohn has been unavailable for the last two matches, but she is expected to feature on the bench on Sunday.

As for the visitors, they are expected to be without the services of Pernille Harder, Fran Kirby and Katerina Svitkova

Millie Bright has missed the last two games through injury, and remains sidelined for Sunday's contest after Chelsea confirmed that the defender has pulled out of the England squad ahead of the upcoming international period.

After playing 120 minutes of football on Thursday, Hayes could decide to freshen up her side by bringing Sophie Ingle, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Mjelde into the starting lineup.

Aston Villa Women possible starting lineup:

Hampton; Rabjohn, Patten, Turner, Pacheco; Dali, Staniforth, Nobbs; Lehmann, Hanson, Daly

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:

Berger; Mjelde, Buchanan, Eriksson, Carter; Cuthbert, Ingle; Charles, James, Reiten; Kerr

We say: Aston Villa Women 1-1 Chelsea Women

Chelsea will head into Sunday's encounter in a buoyant mood, but a number of their players may feel the effects of playing 120 minutes on Thursday.

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