Manchester United vs Aston Villa Women Preview: Villa look to bounce back after Arsenal defeat

Aston Villa Women are in action once again this weekend with a tough away trip to Manchester United in the Women’s Super League.

As the end of the season is just over two months away, it’s a crucial period for both sides with things looking incredibly tight at both the top and bottom of the table.

Current form

Villa go into this game on the back of a 4–0 home defeat to Arsenal last weekend, making that one win in their last five for the Villans.

Their form has improved since the introduction of interim manager Marcus Bignot in January, but there is still some way to go until they can start picking up results against the league’s top sides.

Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images

Manchester United’s last fixture took place before the international break, but it was a disappointing derby for United as Manchester City secured a 3–0 home win following goals from Lucy Bronze, Lauren Hemp and Caroline Weir.

Casey Stoney’s side also suffered a 2–0 defeat to Reading the week before. Their last win came back in January against Everton.

United’s title chances may be slipping out of their grasp, but a spot in Europe is still very much on the table as they’re set to battle it out against City and Arsenal in the latter stages of the season.

Previous Meetings

The two sides met back in December with United securing a 2–0 victory over the league newcomers.

Leah Galton opened the scoring on 25 minutes and Ella Toone scored late to ensure Manchester United walked away with all three points.

Villa and United also met twice in the 18/19 season of the FA Women’s Championship, United’s only season in the second division following their formation in 2018.

The first meeting was in September 2018 where United scored six goals in each half to thrash Villa 12–0.

They later met in April and the Red Devils once again walked away with a win, this time with only five goals to their name.

Things are set to be much more highly contested this time around with Villa a different prospect to what they were two seasons ago.

Team News

Villa’s Ramona Petzelberger is yet to return to full fitness and Diana Silva missed last weekend’s defeat to Arsenal as she returned from international duty with Portugal with a few issues.

Speaking to Villa TV after the game, Bignot provided an update saying:

Diana came back from international duty with a few niggles.

It’s just about some TLC for her, this game just came too soon for her. Next weekend might be too soon for her as well.

Sunday’s game can be watched live on the FA Player with kick off scheduled for 14:00 GMT.