Key events
Team news
Aston Villa starting line-up: Sabrina D’Angelo; Sarah Mayling, Anna Patten, Lucy Parker, Noelle Maritz; Jordan Nobbs, Jill Baijings; Chastity Grant, Kirsty Hanson, Gabi Nunes; Rachel Daly (C). Substitutes: Katelin Talbert, Paula Tomás, Danielle Turner, Miri Taylor, Katie Robinson, Adriana Leon, Ebony Salmon.
Chelsea starting line-up: Hannah Hampton; Ashley Lawrence, Nathalie Björn, Millie Bright (C), Niamh Charles; Erin Cuthbert, Wieke Kaptein; Aggie Beever-Jones, Lauren James, Guro Reiten; Catarina Macario. Substitutes: Femke Liefting, Maelys Mpomé, Keira Walsh, Oriane Jean-François, Sjoeke Nüsken, Lola Brown, Maika Hamano,
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Mayra Ramírez.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to coverage of today’s WSL clash between Aston Villa and Chelsea.
It’s the start of a new era for Villa today as new manager Natalia Arroyo takes charge of her very first game. The hosts go into this fixture off the back of a 4-2 defeat to Manchester City. Villa went toe-to-toe with City for much of the match but fell short following two second-half goals from Mary Fowler and Jess Park.
Meanwhile, Chelsea continued their unbeaten run last week by defeating rivals Arsenal 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. A Guro Reiten penalty was all that separated the two sides in the end, putting Chelsea nine points clear at the top of the table. Sonia Bompastor’s side now essentially have one hand on the title, but can they continue that formidable run today?
Kick-off is at 2:30pm GMT – join me!
