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

The Villans head into the contest in fifth position in the WSL table, while Liverpool are 11 points adrift in seventh place.

Match preview

After enduring a four-game winless run in all competitions, Aston Villa returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion against Reading last time out.

The Villans raced into a three-goal lead before the interval thanks to first-half strikes from Rachel Daly, Alisha Lehmann and Kirsty Hanson.

Daly then added two more to the total after the break to complete her hat trick and round off a comfortable 5-0 away victory.

After finishing in ninth place last term, the Villans have all but guaranteed to end the current campaign in fifth position, representing a considerable improvement on last season's ninth-place finish.

There may be little to play for, but Aston Villa boss Carla Ward will still want her side to remain professional as they look to complete a league double over Liverpool after winning 1-0 in November's reverse fixture.

Regardless of the results from their final two games, Liverpool will view the 2022-23 campaign as a success, having avoided an immediate return to the Championship.

After winning promotion last term, Liverpool may have been fearful of a relegation battle, but in truth, they have never really appeared to be in danger.

With 22 points to their name from 20 matches, Matt Beard's side occupy a comfortable midtable position ahead of Sunday's fixture.

Liverpool will travel to the Midlands in a confident mood after they claimed a 2-1 victory over Champions League-chasing Manchester City in their most recent outing thanks to goals from Natasha Dowie and Missy Bo Kearns.

Having failed to win any of their 10 away league games, Liverpool's struggles on the road have prevented them from potentially achieving a top-half finish, and they now have one final opportunity to avoid ending the season without an away victory in the WSL.

Aston Villa Women Women's Super League form:

W

W

L

D

L

W

Aston Villa Women form (all competitions):

W

L

L

D

L

W

Liverpool Women Women's Super League form:

D

D

W

L

L

W

Team News

Aston Villa are still unable to call upon Rachel Corsie, Emily Gielnik, Natasha Harding, Meaghan Sargeant, and Freya Gregory due to injury issues.

Simone Magill, Remi Allen and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah all made their first appearances since long injury layoffs last weekend, and after featuring as substitutes against Reading, the trio will begin Sunday's contest on the bench.

After cruising to all three points against the Royals, Ward could be tempted to name an unchanged lineup.

As for the visitors, Megan Campbell is sidelined after recently undergoing hip surgery, while Yana Daniels is also expected to miss Sunday's encounter.

After dropping to the bench for the win over Man City, Shanice van de Sanden could be recalled to the starting lineup for the trip to Villa Park.

Niamh Fahey and Leanne Kiernan were unused substitutes on their return to the matchday squad against Man City, and Beard may look to give the pair minutes off the bench this weekend.

Aston Villa Women possible starting lineup:

Hampton; Mayling, Patten, Turner, Pacheco; Dali, Staniforth, Hanson; Blindkilde, Lehmann, Daly

Liverpool Women possible starting lineup:

Kirby; Koivisto, Roberts, Matthews, Hinds; Nagano, Holland; van de Sanden, Kearns, Stengel; Dowie

We say: Aston Villa Women 2-1 Liverpool Women

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