Carla Ward embraces 'underdog' label ahead of FA Cup quarter final against Man City

The Aston Villa women's manager is hopeful of causing an 'upset' on Sunday against one of the WSL's top four.

Carla Ward embraces 'underdog' label ahead of FA Cup quarter final against Man City
Aston Villa manager Carla Ward at her previous game. (Photo by Aston Villa/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
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By James Kendrick

Aston Villa Women manager Carla Ward has embraced the underdog's tag for her side ahead of this weekend's Women's FA Cup Quarter Final at home to Man City

Carla Ward spoke with the media prior to the next round of the coveted competition:

  • Power of the underdog

The two sides have already met twice this season in the Women's Super League with The Villans taking four points off City in those two games.

But despite those games, Ward is adamant that it would be an upset if her side was to win on Sunday.

"It [The two WSL games] shows that we can compete and I think that is really important," said Carla Ward"We will be looking to go there and hopefully cause an upset.

"And it would be an upset, let's make no bones about it. We might have taken four points but it would be an upset."

Ward also admitted that she does love the underdog's tag as a way of galvanising her team and getting everyone up for it.

"It is a great way of getting people up for it. But, let's be honest, you have got the top four and then you have got the rest of us," she said. "That is the reality of where we are now. There is no dressing that up, that is as clear as it is.

"We are the underdogs but we have taken four points off them and we have to take lots of confidence and heart from that."

  • Disrupting the top four

The English manager was also asked about whether the Women's FA Cup was an opportunity for her side to disrupt the established top four.

"Yes I would like to think so," she said. "With the FA Cup, it is 90 minutes. It is a different mentality, 11 vs 11. You have to go and try and win the game.

"In other games in the league you might set up in different ways to nullify their threats but it is a one off game to get you to a semi-final in one of the biggest competitions in club football.

"So yeah, we certainly want to have a go for sure and we want to try and give ourselves every chance of getting into that last four."

  • 'Dreaming of Wembley'

Despite insisting that it would be an upset if her side was to win on Sunday and progress to the semi-final, Carla Ward did admit that if they were to get past Man City, thoughts would turn towards trying to make a Wembley final.

"We would love to get to a semi-final as anything can happen then, and then obviously you start dreaming of Wembley don't you," said Ward.

She added: "We would be lying if we said we did not think about these things. It is an upset if we win but we want to win football matches.

"The good thing is at the minute we are on a run where we are playing well and grinding out results even when we are not playing well we are getting it over the line. The experience in the team is helping that and it certainly helps mentality.

"But make no bones about it, we have to be absolutely at our best on and off the ball to win this game on Sunday night."

  • Rachel Daly vs Khadija Shaw

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This weekend's Women's FA Cup Quarter Final sees two of the best forwards in the English game go up against each other in Rachel Daly and Khadija Shaw.

Ward was quick to heap praise on her forward while also explaining how her team would try and keep Bunny Shaw quiet.

"For me, Rachel Daly is the best English centre forward. Bunny Shaw is proving to be one of the best in the division. There will be talk of that but what you have on the pitch is very good players on both sides, and two teams who like to get the ball down and play and I'm sure it will be a good spectacle for everybody. 

"It is tough. She [Bunny Shaw] is a great individual. She had got pace and power and she is a threat in and around the box. 

"But our back four have done brilliantly so far. Like I said it will be tough. They get in against the best teams in the country so it is how we nullify that threat as much as possible."

Aston Villa takes on Manchester City on Sunday evening in an 18:00pm kick-off and you can watch it live on The FA Player.