Aston Villa Women will travel to the Pirelli Stadium to take on Leicester City Women on Sunday in the Barclays FA Women's Super League.
In what has quickly become one of the most important games in Villa's 2021/22 campaign, Carla Ward and co. could take a huge step towards surpassing last season's points total with a victory over the Foxes.
Villa finally played their first game of the calendar year last weekend when they welcomed Manchester City to the Banks's Stadium.
Having had a partially frozen pitch pass two late pitch inspections, Ward's side produced a spirited display against an ever-improving City outfit but ultimately lost 3-0 on the day.
Anna Patten impressed in her claret & blue debut and emerged as one of the game's finer performers.
But it is games such as the one taking place at the Pirelli this weekend that will go a long way to defining Villa's season.
Having come from behind to beat the Foxes on the opening day in September, encouragement and belief will be taken into the second part of this Midlands battle.
Sunday's game is live on the FA Player, while tickets can be purchased on Leicester's website.
Sunday's opponents come in the form of 11th placed Leicester City.
The Foxes marched to last season's FA Women's Championship title under Jonathan Morgan but found the step up, as Villa did in 2020, a tough one.
The season started with eight consecutive defeats, a run started on the opening day at the Banks's Stadium.
Leicester relieved Morgan of his duties in November and hired Lydia Bedford a week or so later.
The former England Women Under-17s head coach was given a monumental task to keep the newcomers in the division at the first attempt, but has got things off to a promising start.
Bedford was undeterred by defeat to Arsenal in her first game, and has since beaten Birmingham City and Brighton & Hove Albion to take her side's points tally to six.
At the moment, that is good enough for survival but there's a long way to go yet.
Freya Gregory recently put pen to paper on a loan switch across the Midlands and will play her football for the Foxes for the remainder of the campaign.
She is ineligible for selection this weekend.
The Last Meeting
The Boss
Carla Ward spoke to VillaTV to discuss this weekend's clash with the Foxes...
Remi Allen
Our vice-captain also spoke to VillaTV ahead of Sunday's meeting with her former club...
