Aston Villa vs Arsenal Women Preview: Time for Villa to push on

Aston Villa Women are back in action on Sunday afternoon as they welcome Arsenal to the Banks’s Stadium.

This is the third attempt to fulfill this fixture following two postponements in the last month.

The game was originally meant to take place just after the New Year, but numerous COVID cases in the Arsenal squad led to it being called off and rescheduled for the end January.

Then, the rescheduled match was also postponed – this time due to a waterlogged pitch.

The cold weather has caused problems at the Banks’s Stadium this weekend with Walsall’s match against Cheltenham Town in League Two being moved to Tuesday night due to a frozen pitch, but Villa will be hopeful tomorrow’s game goes ahead after their game against Birmingham City was postponed midweek for the same reason.

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Recent form

Arsenal were in action on Wednesday night, though, as they suffered a 3-0 defeat against Chelsea at Kingsmeadow, this comes after a 2-1 loss against Manchester City and a 1-1 draw against Reading in their last few matches.

That’s no win in their last three for Joe Montemurro’s side, so Villa will be looking to capitalize on a poor run of form from the Gunners.

Marcus Bignot’s side comes into this on the back of a huge 1-0 win over Tottenham last weekend, a result he will want his side to build on heading into the international break.

Mana Iwabuchi was the star last time out, but it was the defensive solidity that was most impressive as Villa held on to the one goal lead for over 80 minutes in order to secure a crucial three points.

Around the league

Numerous rearranged fixtures are also taking place tomorrow afternoon, most notably Bristol City hosting league leaders, Chelsea at Twerton Park.

Bristol City have also been in a good run of form since Matt Beard stepped in as interim manager to cover Tanya Oxtoby’s maternity leave.

City picked up a huge 3-0 win over Brighton a couple of weeks ago and drew 1-1 against West Ham last weekend.

Whilst Villa are very much looking up the table, with the Robins only four points behind, every result is crucial in the fight for survival.

Another tough test for Villa

Despite the Gunners recent form, they maintain an unbeaten record against teams outside the top four and with the talent they possess, Villa face a difficult test on Sunday afternoon.

Bignot’s side will want to begin to solidify their spot in the top-flight as the international break approaches, so a positive result will very much be the aim for a side that appears to be on the rise.

You can stream the game live on the FA Player with kick off at 2:00pm GMT on Sunday, February 14th.