Game Details
Game: Manchester City Women vs Aston Villa Women
Date: Sunday 17th January 2021
Competition: Barclays FA Women's Super League
Venue: Academy Stadium
Time: 12:30pm (GMT)
Watch: The game will be shown live on BBC Sport.
Aston Villa Women return to action in the Barclays FA Women's Super League, having last played a league fixture on December 13th.
The winter break, coupled with fixture postponements, means this will be Gemma Davies' first WSL game of 2021.
The Villans are coming off of a frustrating 2-1 defeat to Bristol City on Wednesday evening, however.
Villa were undone by two counter-attacking goals by Ebony Salmon, as they bowed out of the FA Women's Continental League Cup at the quarter-final stage for the second successive season.
There are reasons for optimism, though, amongst the ranks.
Stine Larsen marked her return to the team with a superb headed goal against the Vixens, while Japan international Mana Iwabuchi made her bow in claret & blue.
Sunday's hosts come in the formidable form of Manchester City.
Despite a disappointing start to the 2020/21 season, by their own lofty standards, City still sit 4th in the WSL table and could be just five points off league leaders Manchester United come Sunday evening.
This fixture will signal the start of a challenging run of fixtures for Villa, with games coming thick and fast between now and the end of the campaign.
These two sides met on the opening day of the season at Villa Park, when two Georgia Stanway goals proved to be the difference in a 2-0 win for City.
Last Time Out
Form Guide
Here's how the two sides have fared going into Sunday's matchup...
The Boss
Gemma Davies spoke to VillaTV following Wednesday's Conti Cup defeat...
“We’re disappointed. We don’t want to lose any game of football. Of course, we’re frustrated with the result. I’ve said this before, but our ruthlessness in both boxes matters at this level. I felt we dominated the game for large spells. We moved the ball really well. We combined superbly. We created a number of chances. It was just that ruthlessness that was missing when it mattered. It was just those key moments that let us down.”
“We felt coming into the half-time break that we should have been two, or three up. The parting message was our ruthlessness and entering the scoring phase with purpose. Sometimes we have a tendency to slow it down.”
“Pleased that Stine came on and made an instant impact. She’s a physically dominant individual. Pleased with her impact on the game, and pleased that she sustained that impact throughout the time she was on the pitch.”
“It was a great opportunity to introduce her to tonight’s fixture. It gives her a flavour as to what WSL life is like. You saw today what she’s going to be able to bring to the team. She’s a player who looks after the ball in tight spaces. She appears in pockets that you don’t think she’s going to appear in. She’s an intelligent individual. We’re looking forward to her settling in and finding out how we do things here.”
“If you strip away the emotion from tonight’s fixture, and the disappointment of not progressing, there were so many positive elements to our performance. The football we played and the way we were organised out of possession, we weren’t doing that two or three months ago. That highlights our progression. Going into Manchester City, we haven’t got time to dwell and feel sorry for ourselves. We’ll review the fixture, train, and go into Manchester City raring to go.”
