Chelsea Women will look to maintain their unbeaten start to the Women's Super League season when they travel to the Bescot Stadium to face Aston Villa Women on Saturday.

The hosts, meanwhile, are still searching for their first points of the season after losing their opening four matches.

Match preview

After securing fifth place last season, Aston Villa would have come into this campaign with hopes of building upon their top-half finish.

However, rather than pushing on, the Villans have experienced a decline in the opening stages of the new season, having lost all of their four matches.

Curiously, Aston Villa have tended to start games on the front foot after taking the lead in three of their opening four games, including their most recent outing against Tottenham Hotspur.

On that occasion, Rachel Daly netted a fifth-minute penalty to put Carla Ward's side in front, but a Martha Thomas hat-trick and an Ashleigh Neville goal helped Spurs establish a comfortable lead, before Lucy Parker pulled a goal back to add a degree of respectability to the 4-2 scoreline.

As one of two WSL teams yet to pick up a point this season, 11th-placed Aston Villa will be desperate to get off the mark this weekend, but they will certainly have their work cut out against the reigning WSL champions.

Having picked up 10 points from their opening four matches, Chelsea are one of three teams yet to lose a WSL game this season.

After beginning the campaign with a 2-1 win against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the Blues salvaged a point against Manchester City, before claiming consecutive victories against West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion.

Emma Hayes's side fell behind in their home meeting with the Seagulls, but they managed to turn the game in their favour courtesy of a Sjoeke Nusken hat-trick and an Aggie Beever-Jones effort, before Brighton netted a late consolation through Elisabeth Terland.

The 4-2 victory ensured that Chelsea went into the international break in second place and level on points with league leaders Man City.

Chelsea will be confident about their chances of maintaining their unbeaten record after winning their previous six WSL meetings with Aston Villa by a combined 14-1 scoreline.

Team News

Parker will miss out for the Villans after she was forced to withdraw from the England squad due to an ankle injury.

In her pre-match press conference, Ward revealed that Kenza Dali is closing in on a return to full fitness, but it remains unclear if she will be available for the weekend.

After serving a three-match suspension, Scotland international Kirsty Hanson will be brought into the starting lineup.

As for the visitors, they are expected to be without Katerina Svitkova and Catarina Macario, while there are doubts over the availability of Melanie Leupolz and Guro Reiten.

Chelsea will hope to have Lauren James available for the weekend after a concussion forced her to pull out of the England squad.

Goalkeeper Zecira Musovic dropped down to the bench for the win over Brighton, but the Sweden international could replace Ann-Katrin Berger for Saturday's encounter.

Aston Villa Women possible starting lineup:
Van Domselaar; Mayling, Patten, Corsie, Turner; Staniforth, Blindkilde Brown, Nobbs; Leon, Hanson, Daly

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Musovic; Bright, Buchanan, Carter; Lawrence, Nusken, Ingle, Charles; Rytting Kaneryd, Kirby, Kerr

We say: Aston Villa Women 1-3 Chelsea Women

Having found the net in three of their four games, Aston Villa will fancy their chances of getting on the scoresheet, but even if they trouble the scorers, we still believe that Chelsea will have the extra quality required to claim all three points on Saturday.


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