Aston Villa Women will aim to end April in a positive manner on Friday when they face Manchester United.
Carla Ward's side welcome the Red Devils to Poundland Bescot Stadium under the lights, with kick-off set for 7.15pm.
The game will be also be Villa's final fixture at Walsall this season and will be wanting to head into the final few games with a good performance under their belts.
Villa had taken plenty of plaudits following their FA Cup semi-final showing against Chelsea a few weeks ago but were left disappointed with a 3-3 draw at Tottenham Hotspur last time out.
And with Everton taking all three points against Reading, the battle for fifth place is still very much up for grabs.
This weekend's visitors at Poundland Bescot Stadium are Manchester United.
United represent yet another tough test for Carla Ward and co., after recent exertions against Chelsea.
Marc Skinner's Red Devils are in a four-way fight for the Barclays WSL title, and with just a handful of games remaining this battle could be a decisive one.
Friday's game will be Lucy Staniforth's first opportunity to face United having departed in January, while Kirsty Hanson will unfortunately be unavailable to go up against her parent club.
The Last Meeting
Villa Women’s three-game winning run came to end at Old Trafford when these two sides met in December.
United ran out 5-0 winners courtesy of goals from Katie Zelem, Leah Galton, Alessia Russo, Ona Batlle and Rachel Williams.
The game was Villa's last of 2022, and would unknowingly kickstart a fine run of form which has culminated in fifth place and an FA Cup semi-final appearance.
Standout Stats
- Aston Villa and Manchester United are joint-leaders for goals from high turnovers in the WSL this season with seven each.
- Aston Villa Rachel Daly has scored 17 goals in her last 20 appearances in the WSL – she had five goals from 31 total appearances in the competition prior to this run.
Team News
Carla Ward confirmed during Thursday morning's press conference Freya Gregory will miss the remainder of the season.
The winger has been suffering from glandular fever, meaning her campaign has sadly been cut short.
Freya missed time earlier this season with an ankle injury and has only featured 12 times in all competitions.
Elsewhere, Rachel Corsie remains out of action.
The Boss
“We’re expecting similar numbers to the Chelsea game. The Bescot was bouncing, hopefully it’s the same [tomorrow]”.
Carla Ward
