Relegation-threatened Leicester City travel west across the Midlands to face an in-form Aston Villa side who are still competing to win the Women’s FA Cup.

Aston Villa overcame Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals last weekend courtesy of a Rachel Daly winner in extra-time, the result has set up a semi-final with reigning champions and four-time winners Chelsea.

With Aston Villa sitting in a pocket of comfort in fifth place where they are five clear of sixth, but nine behind fourth, Carla Ward may look to prioritise the FA Cup given they do not have much left to play for in the Women’s Super League.

But the hosts are in fine form, they are unbeaten in seven winning six of their last seven games in all competitions, and they face a Leicester side who are rock bottom of the league and struggling to score goals.

The Foxes have only scored two goals in their five matches, and only seven all season, which is nine behind the team with the second-worst goalscoring record.

Last time out they were beaten in a crucial game near the bottom of the table as relegation rivals edged Tottenham edged them out, thanks to a Beth England strike.

Historically this is a fixture that has been dominated by Aston Villa. This will be the fourth time these two teams have met, with Aston Villa victorious in each of the three previous meetings.

If the home side is to make it four wins out of four on Sunday, then Leicester will become the team they have won more games against than any other. While Aston Villa will become one of Leicester’s worst teams to face with a 100% losing record against them, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham.

However, Aston Villa’s defensive record could give hope to the blunt Leicester attack, as they have conceded in six of their last seven matches, so Leicester may be able to get themselves on the scoresheet, you feel like they have to.

  • Team News

Aston Villa

Aston Villa is contending with a longer injury list than Leicester with as many as seven names missing this weekend.

Emily Gielnik and Ruesha Littlejohn will miss the fixture against Leicester after picking up recent ankle and knee injuries respectively.

Meaghan Sargeant and Natasha Harding remain ruled out with long-term injuries that will likely rule them out for the rest of the season.

Remi Allen, Simone Magill, and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah are continuing their recoveries but are not ready for first-team action and will not feature against Leicester.

Leicester City

Willie Kirk confirmed that Jess Sigsworth is recovering well from an ACL injury that has ruled her out since February 2022, and is likely to feature for the Foxes before the end of the season.

Kirk said: "Jess [Sigsworth] is doing well and is on the grass, she had a slight setback but is now back with the squad which is really positive for us. She was more worried about a training goal yesterday that was disallowed rather than her knee!"

The Leicester City manager also confirmed that Shannon O’Brien and Abbie McManus could also return to the squad by the end of the season as they continue their recovery from injury.

  • Likely Line-ups

Aston Villa

Hampton; Mayling, Turner, Patten, Corsie; Dali, Nobbs, Staniforth; Blindkilde, Hanson, Daly

Leicester

Leitzig; Eaton-Collins, Howard, Plumptre, Nevin; Green, Mace; Whelan, Tierney, Cain; Siemsen

  • Key Players

Rachel Daly (Aston Villa)

Rachel Daly has been on electric form this season as she has contributed to just under half of all of Aston Villa’s 27 WSL goals this season, having a hand in 13 of them.

Her goalscoring attributes are crucial to Aston Villa, and her goals alone have secured points for Aston Villa this season.

Only Khadija Shaw has netted more goals in the league this season with 15, but Daly’s 11 is already the most scored by an Aston Villa player in a single WSL campaign.

Janina Leitzig (Leicester City)

Since joining on loan from Bayern Munich in the winter transfer window the German goalkeeper has been in inspired form.

On her debut at the King Power Stadium, she kept Leicester’s first WSL clean sheet of the season in a 3-0 win over Brighton, and since then she has kept a further two clean sheets.

With Leicester struggling to find the back of the net, it is crucial that they do not concede many goals and Leitzig has helped that.

  • Match Details

Where will the match be played?

The match will be played at Villa Park in Birmingham.

When will the match be played?

The match will kick off at 2pm BST on Sunday, March 26, 2023.

How can you watch the match?

In the UK, the match will be broadcast live on The FA Player which is free to use. Highlights will be available across all social media channels after the final whistle.