Fixtures
- Brighton and Hove Albion Women Vs. Aston Villa Women – Wed, Feb 7th 2024, 19:00
Aston Villa’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup campaign continues at Broadfield Stadium on Wednesday as they take on Brighton & Hove Albion in the quarter-finals.
Carla Ward will be looking to take the club to the semi-finals for the first time ever after falling short in recent seasons.
The Villans, who were knocked out by Arsenal at this stage in 2022/23, will be looking to take their strong league form against Wednesday’s opponents into the cup.
The last time Brighton reached this stage of the competition was in 2020 when they lost 2-1 against Manchester United.
Recently departed Melissa Phillips guided the Seagulls to first place in Group E, while they sit 11th in the Barclays WSL.
Mikey Harris will be in interim charge for Wednesday’s tie.
Brighton’s home form has been inconsistent in their eight games this term, winning two, losing four and drawing twice in all competitions.
Opponent in Focus
After finishing 11th last season, Brighton once again find themselves closer to the foot of the table than they would like.
A promising start saw them win two of their first three games, as well as a 1-0 success over Manchester City in November.
A run to the last eight of the League Cup has set up Wednesday’s clash with Villa, but results have been inconsistent in the league.
Boro have won three, lost eight and drawn two of their league matches, scoring 13 goals and conceding 29 times.
Norway international Elisabeth Terland has top-scored with 11 goals in all competitions.
The Last Meeting
Villa’s charge up the WSL table continued with a comfortable win against Brighton in February 2023.
Julia Zigiotti Olme scored the opener for the hosts before Villa took charge of the game with three goals in eight minutes.
Goals from Lucy Staniforth, Kirsty Hanson, Jordan Nobbs (3) and Rachel Daly ensured three points for the visitors.
Team News
Carla Ward has plenty of absentees to contend with on Wednesday evening.
Lucy Staniforth and Lucy Parker remain out with respective ankle injuries, while Freya Gregory, Miri Taylor and Noelle Maritz are all cup-tied.
Anna Leat has travelled to Samoa to represent New Zealand in their upcoming Olympic qualifiers, and Dan Turner could feature.
