Preview: Aston Villa v Arsenal Women | Match preview | News

We head to Villa Park to take on Aston Villa on Saturday, May 9, aiming to finish the season strongly and qualify for next season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League.

Sitting third in the Barclays Women’s Super League, a victory against Aston Villa on Saturday, May 9, would assure us of at least a spot in the qualification rounds for next season’s premier European competition.

GOALS GALORE

Villa haven’t had too much trouble scoring goals this season. They’ve found the back of the net 27 times in the WSL – more than any other club in the bottom 7.

But, out of those seven, they’ve also conceded the second most goals – 43, to be exact – with only Leicester City suffering a worse defensive record. They sit ninth in the league with 20 points from 20 matches, only behind Everton on goal difference.

Most recently, Villa lost 2-0 at home to West Ham United on Monday after being on the wrong end of a 4-3 seven-goal thriller away to Chelsea.

They did manage a rare goalless draw with WSL leaders Manchester City in the middle of March, though. Kirsty Hanson is the club’s top scorer with 12 goals in the league in 2025/26.

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

“It’s their last home game for the season. I think they want to finish it well at home, in front of their own fans. What exactly they are going to present to us, let’s see, both tactically and personnel-wise.

“Let’s see who’s available for them, and how they’re going to attack the game. We’ll have to be dynamic, but we’ve been talking about focusing on our own game anyway, because we’re so good when we’re at our best, so we want to bring our own best game, regardless of (the) opponent’s tactical plan, so doing our basics really well tomorrow.”

TEAM NEWS

Steph Catley is working her way back to fitness but will not feature against Aston Villa. Leah Williamson also misses our trip to the Midlands.

As for the hosts, Lucy Parker remains out with midfielder Jill Baijings unavailable for the rest of the season after suffering an ACL injury in September.

FACTS AND STATS

We have won seven of our first nine WSL meetings with Aston Villa (D1 L1), but have since failed to win our last two league games against the Villans, losing 5-2 away last season and drawing 1-1 at Emirates Stadium earlier this season.

Aston Villa failed to win their final home game in any of their first four WSL seasons between 2020/21 and 2023/24 (D2 L2), but they did beat Brighton and Hove Albion 3-1 last season to close out their home campaign.

This will be our fifth game in just 13 days across all competitions – it is only the fifth time a WSL side have faced the prospect of five games in as short a spell. Meanwhile, only Manchester United (40) has played more matches than us (38, incl. Wednesday’s game with Brighton) among WSL teams this season.

Only bottom of the league Leicester City have won fewer points (0), suffered more defeats (10) and conceded more goals (31) in the Women’s Super League in 2026 than Aston Villa (7pts – W2 D2 L6, 25conceded).

This is our 11th WSL game played on a Saturday this season, comfortably the most by a team in a single campaign ever – we’ve lost only one of our 13 league matches under Renée Slegers on a Saturday (W9 D3), to Manchester City in October (2-3).

Aston Villa’s opponents have the best shot conversion rate in the top-flight this season (15.6%), and only in 2020/21 (47) and 2024/25 (44) have the Villans conceded more times in a single WSL campaign than their 43 this term.

Renée Slegers has faced 20 different managers in the Women’s Super League, and Aston Villa’s Natalia Arroyo is the only one she has never won against (D1 L1); she did beat the Spaniard’s Villans in the FA Cup back in January, however.

Stina Blackstenius averages a goal every 79 minutes against Aston Villa in the WSL, netting in each of her last three outings against the Villans (she’s scored four in total against the Villans); three of those four strikes have come as a substitute, and no player has ever netted in four sub apps versus the same opponent in the competition (Erin Cuthbert vs West Ham – also 3)

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee Mel Burgin will be the one with the whistle at Villa Park. She will be assisted by Magda Golba and Dna Sykes, with Abby Dearden the fourth official.

Burgin took charge of our 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Emirates Stadium back in November 2025.

Referee: Mel Burgin
Assistants: Magda Golba and Dan Sykes
Fourth official: Abby Dearden

HOW TO WATCH

Viewers in the UK can watch the game at Villa Park on Sky Sports Premier League. For supporters elsewhere in the world, take a look at which broadcasters are showing the game.