Chelsea vs Aston Villa Women Preview: The pressure is mounting in fight for survival

Aston Villa Women return to action on Sunday afternoon as they travel to London to face league leaders Chelsea.

This is set to be a huge game for both teams, with only a point separating Villa from West Ham at the bottom of the table and they’re currently level on points with Bristol City.

Chelsea are only two points ahead of Manchester City in second and whilst they remain favourites for a second consecutive league title, things are far from decided.

Form

The hosts come into this game having played the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Wolfsburg on Wednesday.

The Blues take a 2-1 lead into the second leg, set to take place later this month.

Emma Hayes’ side have won their last four league games after Brighton ended their 33-game unbeaten run back in February.

For Villa, things have looked far bleaker as they’ve lost the last three games, their last victory came against Tottenham Hotspur in early February.

The first encounter

The two sides faced each other earlier this year as Chelsea secured a 4-0 win over The Villans at the Banks’s stadium in what was Marcus Bignot’s first game in charge.

Sam Kerr, Beth England, Pernille Harder, and Magdalena Eriksson were all on the scoresheet on what was a difficult night for Villa.

Speaking after their defeat to Brighton a week and a half ago, Bignot reflected on the Chelsea game and what his side can take into Sunday’s fixture.

“We stopped them playing the Chelsea way, but the Chelsea way is finding a way to win - and they found a way to win.

“It was disappointing the way we lost that game, but the performance was good in terms of stopping an absolutely gifted squad.

“We’re going to try and nullify their strengths as best as possible and not get beat on the basics of football, that will be a big takeaway come the Chelsea game.”

Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

Elsewhere in the league

There’s plenty of WSL action this weekend and relegation rivals West Ham fell to a 2-0 defeat against Manchester United on Saturday, keeping them rock bottom of the table.

Bristol City travel to the Midlands to face Birmingham City on Sunday with a later kick off time of 4pm BST.

But our eyes will be on London with Chelsea hosting Villa at 2:30pm BST with the game being broadcast on BT Sport for UK viewers.

For international viewers, they can tune in of the FA player.