West Ham United Women will look to secure their Women's Super League survival when they travel to Villa Park for Sunday's meeting with Aston Villa Women.
The Hammers are languishing in 11th place with 13 points to their name, while the hosts are seven points better off in seventh position.
Match preview
Aston Villa are set to return to action for the first time since suffering a heavy 3-0 away defeat to Chelsea on April 17.
The Villans were dealt a major blow when goalkeeper Anna Leat was shown a straight red card in the fourth minute, gifting the reigning WSL champions a numerical advantage for the majority of the contest.
Chelsea ultimately made full use of the red card as Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano and Kadiesha Buchanan all got on the scoresheet to condemn Carla Ward's side to their fourth defeat in six competitive matches.
Having taken 20 points from 19 league games, Aston Villa are on course to finish in the bottom half of the table with just three fixtures left to play against West Ham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City.
While they may have little to play for, the Villans will still be keen to claim all three points this weekend, having failed to win any of their previous four home league games since beating Brighton in December.
Like their hosts, West Ham will also head into Sunday's contest off the back of a heavy away loss after they let in five goals without a reply in their meeting with Manchester United.
Despite falling to a 5-0 defeat, West Ham are on the brink of securing safety with seven points separating them from basement side Bristol City.
The Hammers can guarantee their survival with a win against Aston Villa, but even if they lose Sunday's contest, they will stay up if Bristol City fail to pull off an unlikely win against Manchester City.
Having scored just two goals in their six-game winless run, West Ham will be desperate to produce a strong attacking performance at Villa Park.
The visitors can take confidence from the fact that they have won their last two away matches against Aston Villa via a 2-1 scoreline.
- L
- L
- W
- L
- D
- L
Team News
With Daphne van Domselaar injured and Leat suspended, Aston Villa will have to field their third-choice goalkeeper, 17-year-old Sophia Poor.
Scotland international Rachel Corsie will serve a one-match suspension after picking up her fifth yellow card of the WSL season.
Maz Pacheco remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, while it remains to be seen whether Lucy Parker and Lucy Staniforth are passed fit for Sunday's contest.
As for the visitors, Abbey-Leigh Stringer, Kristie Mewis and Katrina Gorry are contending with injury issues and are likely to miss out this weekend.
Emma Snerle could be brought into the starting lineup after dropping down to the bench for the heavy defeat to Man City.
Viviane Asseyi will offer one of West Ham's main goal threats, having scored six goals in 19 appearances, including a strike in the reverse fixture against Aston Villa.
Aston Villa Women possible starting lineup:
Poor; Mayling, Patten, Maritz; Magill, Nobbs, Taylor, Hanson; Dali; Daly, Salmon
West Ham United Women possible starting lineup:
Arnold; Cissoko, Tysiak, Zadorsky; Cissoko, Shimizu, Hayashi, Smith; Ziu, Asseyi; Ueki
We say: Aston Villa Women 1-1 West Ham United Women
West Ham have lost each of their last three WSL away matches, and we think that they will do enough to take a point off an Aston Villa side that has gone five games without a win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
