Everton vs Aston Villa Women Preview: Points the priority for Villa

Aston Villa Women are in action on Sunday afternoon as they head north to face Everton in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

Pressure is mounting on the Villans as they now sit bottom of the table after West Ham’s 5-0 hammering of Reading on Saturday.

Marcus Bignot’s side have failed to pick up any points since their 1-0 win over Tottenham in February, courtesy of a fantastic Mana Iwabuchi strike.

Everton will be yet another difficult test for Villa after the Toffees have won three of their last five and have only dropped points to Manchester City and Chelsea.

Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Last time out

Villa come into this game off the back of a 2-0 away defeat to league leaders Chelsea.

A Sam Kerr brace last Sunday inflicted a fourth consecutive defeat on Bignot’s side as they battle to keep their top-flight status next season.

For Sunday’s hosts, a 5-0 win over Brighton pushed Willie Kirk’s side into fifth in one of their best seasons yet.

The last meeting

The two sides met back in October in only Villa’s third game in the WSL.

With a 6-0 scoreline in Everton’s favour, two goals from both Hayley Raso and Claire Emslie, as well as goals from Valerie Gauvin and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah, the tone was set for just how tough life would be in England’s top league.

The Toffees have dispatched teams by huge scorelines on numerous occasions this season, but their last meeting with Villa remains their biggest victory of this campaign.

Good performances are no longer enough

The improvement has been clear since Bignot’s arrival in January, as Villa look a team that’s far more compact and difficult to beat.

His side have played with a new energy and it’s taking moments of quality in often incredibly tight games for opposition to walk away with all three points.

Since their victory against Spurs, Villa have faced an incredibly difficult run of fixtures, after facing Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal in recent weeks.

The most disappointing result, though, came in a 2-0 defeat at home to Brighton on March 17 - a game that could’ve and probably should’ve been an opportunity to propel themselves further up the table.

But, Brighton were a team in fine form when they came to Birmingham only a few weeks ago and teams around Villa are starting to pick up points, most notably West Ham have leapfrogged them after Saturday’s win.

Good performances won't be enough to keep them playing in the top flight next season, at this stage, putting points on the board is crucial as we enter the run-in.

Sunday’s game against Everton kicks off at 13:00 BST and can be broadcast internationally on the FA player.