Aston Villa welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Villa Park this afternoon for their final fixture of the 2024/25 Women's Super League season.
Natalia Arroyo's side's sights will be firmly set on securing their fifth win on the bounce and finish the campaign in the top-half of the table.
The Villans bagged a 3-2 victory over West Ham United the last time they were in action as they made it three consecutive wins on the road.
Ebony Salmon opened the scoring for Villa as she found the back of the net with only five minutes on the clock.
However, the home side soon turned the game around and took the lead through goals from Shekiera Martinez and Riko Ueki but Rachel Daly was on hand to punish West Ham for a weak back pass and to level the score heading into the break.
Chasity Grant then continued her stellar form by netting her third goal in five games to secure Villa the three points in the 54th minute with a terrific finish after storming into the home side's box.
Today's opponents, Brighton, were also triumphant in their most recent outing as they beat Arsenal 4-2 earlier this week.
Fran Kirby put the Seagulls ahead with only 16 minutes on the clock but Arsenal's Caitlin Foord pulled her side level 13 minutes later.
But Brighton's restored their lead on the stroke of half-time as Jelena Čanković put the side back ahead with a terrific volley before netting her second of the game seven minutes after the restart.
Kiko Seike stepped up next as she bagged Brighton's fourth of the afternoon to put her team firmly in the driving seat and to also ensure that Mariona Caldentey's stoppage time goal was nothing but a consolation strike.
Stats
Villa have won each of their last four WSL games, their joint-longest win streak in the competition and the longest active streak of any side.
Brighton's Fran Kirby has been directly involved in more WSL goals than any other player on the final matchday of the season (9 - 6 goals and 3 assists).
The Last Meeting
HIGHLIGHTS | Aston Villa 3-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Villa booked their place in the Women’s FA cup quarter-final with a 3-2 win over Brighton the last time these two sides met back in February.
A goal from Anna Patten deep in stoppage cancelled out the opener from Nikita Parris and saw the sides head into the break level.
A rapid return to the game saw Rachel Daly and Chasity Grant put the Villans 3-1 up before the 55th minute.
Parris struck again to reduce the deficit late on, but the goal was in vain as Villa remained strong to see out the 3-2 victory.
Team News
Gabi Nunes (back) has missed Villa's recent two fixtures through injury but is in contention to return to today's matchday squad.
Paula Tomàs (hip), Kirsty Hanson (leg) and Lucy Staniforth (ankle) are all sidelined for the contest.
