Fixtures
- Brighton and Hove Albion Women Vs. Aston Villa Women – Sat, Oct 5th 2024, 12:30
Aston Villa head to the south coast this afternoon as they take on Brighton & Hove Albion in the Women’s Super League.
Robert de Pauw’s side will be looking to make it two wins in four days as they wrap up their three game week.
Villa were last in action on Wednesday evening as they defeated Crystal Palace 2-0 at the Bescot Stadium in their first League Cup group stage fixture.
Goals from Kirsty Hanson and Katie Robinson sealed the victory for the side after a dominating display.
Brighton were also in League Cup action last Wednesday as they defeated Women’s Championship side Birmingham City 3-0 at St Andrew’s.
Second-half goals from Guro Bergsvand, Maisie Symonds and Fran Kirby ensured the victory for the Seagulls and to send them top of Group D.
Stats
Aston Villa have won all four of their away WSL fixtures against Brighton, keeping a clean sheet in three of those victories.
The Villans are also unbeaten in the last three meetings between the two sides in the WSL, that run began with a 6-2 victory back in February 2023.
Brighton’s 4-0 win over Everton on the opening day of the season ended a run of five consecutive WSL home defeats.
The Last Meeting
Alisha Lehmann’s 64th minute strike sealed Villa a 1-0 win in their last meeting with Brighton.
Noelle Maritz found Rachel Daly inside the final third with a looping pass, the forward controlled the ball and carried it into the area but was dispossessed inside the box. The ball rolled kindly to Lehmann who coolly slotted a shot into the bottom left-hand corner.
The three points wrapped up the side’s 2023/24 away campaign.
Team News
Anna Leat (head), Jill Baijings (back) and Georgia Mullett (hamstring) all still remained sidelined but are edging closer to returning to team training.
Rachel Corsie is set for an extended spell on the side lines after having knee surgery earlier this week.
Gabi Nunes, who played 45 minutes against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, still continues to build her load and is in contention to return to the squad next weekend.
Managers’ Pre-match Thoughts
“We just take it game for game. I’ve said before there are no easy games in this league. Brighton only lost 1-0 against City and Leicester only lost 1-0 against Arsenal, that says everything about those squads.” – Robert de Pauw
