Aston Villa Women will aim to arrest a four-game winless run on Sunday when they visit Reading.
Carla Ward's side travel to Berkshire this weekend for what will be a penultimate away game of the season. Kick-off at Select Car Leasing stadium is set for 2pm.
The clash starts a three-game month to finish off the 2022/23 campaign, with further battles with Liverpool and Arsenal to come.
While a stretch of four games without a win may seem concerning, performance levels have remained high.
Villa were unfortunate to be on the receiving end of back-to-back defeats against Chelsea, before playing out an entertaining 3-3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
The team then looked set for a well-earned point against Manchester United before Millie Turner headed in a stoppage time winner to break Villa's hearts.
This weekend's opponents are Reading.
The Royals have been a mainstay in England's top tier for the last several years, but that position is in serious jeopardy going into the final month of the current season.
Kelly Chambers' side sit bottom of the Barclays WSL with 19 games played, more than several of the teams above them.
And with a two-point gap having also opened up, points are paramount at this stage.
Games against Spurs and Chelsea will follow Sunday's encounter, meaning this weekend's battle could go a long way to deciding the fate of the Berkshire outfit.
Sunday could see former Royals, Remi Allen and Maz Pacheco go up against their old club.
The Last Meeting
Rachel Daly’s impressive hat-trick ensured Villa Women came from behind to claim a 3-1 triumph over Reading at Villa Park the last time these sides met.
The England international made it eight goals in seven Barclays WSL appearances for Villa, who registered back-to-back wins for the second time this season.
Victory, a first over Reading in their fifth WSL meeting, lifted Carla Ward’s side up to fifth place in the table for the first time.
Lauren Wade slammed the visitors ahead in the seventh minute before Daly turned the game around.
Firstly, she headed home Rachel Corsie’s inch-perfect cross before seeing her glancing header from Kenza Dali’s corner deflect off Natasha Dowie and find the net.
Reading’s afternoon went from bad to worse just after the hour as goalkeeper Jackie Burns was sent off following a collision with Kirsty Hanson.
And Daly made sure of all three points when she picked herself up to slam home a 76th-minute penalty, much to the delight of the 4,566 present.
Standout Stats
- Having gone unbeaten in their first four WSL matches against Aston Villa (W2 D2), Reading lost the reverse fixture in November, losing 3-1 at Villa Park.
- Aston Villa are currently unbeaten in five away games in the WSL (W3 D2) – if they avoid defeat in this match, it will be a new club record in the competition.
- Rachel Daly has scored 17 goals in 19 appearances in the WSL in 2022-23 – prior this season, no Aston Villa player had ever scored more than three goals in a single campaign in the competition.
- Aston Villa’s Kirsty Hanson has been directly involved in 12 goals in 17 appearances in the WSL in 2022-23 (4 goals, 8 assists). In her three previous seasons in the competition she was directly involved in 13 goals in 48 appearances in total.
Team News
Carla Ward offered an encouraging update on three Villans during Friday morning's press conference.
Remi Allen and Simone Magill are both available and in contention for minutes this Sunday having fully recovered from their ACL injuries.
The former featured for our WSL Academy in their fixture against Arsenal on Wednesday; both her and Magill have featured in recent first-team squads.
Rachel Corsie, meanwhile, is progressing well from a knee injury that has kept her out since March.
The vice-captain hasn't featured since our Vitality Women's FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City but is expected to be back for our game against Liverpool in a couple of weeks.
Meaghan Sargeant, Emily Gielnik, Tash Harding and Freya Gregory all remain out.
