By Aston Villa FC

At A Glance

Aston Villa Women resume their Barclays Women's Super League campaign this weekend when they host Brighton & Hove Albion.

Carla Ward's side welcome the Seagulls to Poundland Bescot Stadium on Saturday, with kick-off set for 12.30pm.

It will the first of three games this month, with the reverse fixture against Saturday's opponents to take place next weekend.

February culminates in our Vitality Women's FA Cup fifth round tie at West Ham United.

Having picked up some impressive league results in January, Villa will be looking forward to resuming WSL duties.

This weekend's opponents at Poundland Bescot Stadium are Brighton & Hove Albion.

The Seagulls have long been a stable outfit in the top flight, but that has been tested during the 2022/23 season.

Having one just one of their opening five league games, the club parted ways with Hope Powell.

The ex-England boss had been in charge of the south coast side since 2017 but couldn’t reverse the form which culminated in an 8-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Jens Scheuer, formerly of Bayern Munich, has been at the helm since December but has only took charge of one league game.

A 3-0 defeat to Leicester City hasn’t lifted spirits, meaning Scheuer has a task on his hands to stave off the fighting Foxes at the bottom of the division.

Villa have won two of four clashes with Brighton since their promotion to the WSL in 2020.

Team News

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Carla Ward confirmed during Friday morning's press conference that Anna Leat is 'touch-and-go' for Saturday's game.

The goalkeeper missed last weekend's win over Fylde with what Ward has described as a 'back problem', meaning Hannah Hampton could retain her place between the sticks.

Remi Allen and Simone Magill have both continued pitch-based work but are still a significant period away from returning.

Meaghan Sargeant, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah, Natasha Harding and Freya Gregory remain out with long-term injuries.

The Boss

"One game at a time. This game is massive, it’s a big opportunity to try and get points and cement our position in the top half of the table."

Carla Ward