On Sunday, Aston Villa Women will welcome Brighton & Hove Albion Women to the Bescot Stadium for the final round of Women's Super League fixtures in 2023.
The hosts head into the weekend in 10th position in the WSL table, while the Seagulls are two points better off in ninth place.
Match preview
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After finishing in fifth place last term, Aston Villa have been unable to match those high standards in the 2023-24 campaign, having won just two of their nine league matches (L7).
The Villans began the WSL season with five consecutive losses, before they appeared to have turned a corner with successive away wins over Bristol City and West Ham United.
Unfortunately for the Villans, they have been unable to add to their tally since those two victories, with their last two matches ending in 2-1 defeats to Everton and Manchester City.
Having experienced an underwhelming league campaign, Carla Ward's side restored some much-needed belief with a comfortable 5-1 win over Championship outfit Durham in Wednesday's League Cup clash, where Adriana Leon and Rachel Corsie got on the scoresheet before Rachel Daly came off the bench to net a hat-trick.
While that result may have taken place at the Bescot Stadium, the Villans are still searching for their first home points of the WSL season after losing their opening four matches in front of their supporters.
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Like their hosts, Brighton have also found wins hard to come by this season, having won two, drawn two and lost five of their nine league matches.
Since claiming their most recent WSL victory against Man City on November 12, Brighton have gone on to pick up just one point from their next three top-flight fixtures.
They fell to heavy defeats to both Arsenal and Liverpool, before they fought back from two goals down to salvage a draw from last Sunday's home clash with Leicester City.
Melissa Phillips's side looked to be heading towards defeat when goals from Lena Petermann and Jutta Rantala gave the Foxes a two-goal cushion, but Brighton managed to stage a late fightback through Elisabeth Terland, who scored two goals in six minutes to snatch a point for the South-coast club.
Buoyed from last week's comeback, the Seagulls will be confident about their chances of taking something from Sunday's fixture after winning four and drawing one of their last five competitive away meetings with Aston Villa.
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Team News
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After making a number of changes for the midweek cup game, Ward could recall Daphne van Domselaar, Anna Patten and Danielle Turner.
Jordan Nobbs and Daly are also set to return to the Aston Villa lineup after featuring as substitutes on Wednesday.
Daly, who has netted four league goals this season, will lead the line for the hosts, and the England international could be joined in the front three by Kirsty Hanson and Leon.
As for the visitors, they are expected to line up with a back three featuring Emma Kullberg, Maria Thorisdottir and Guro Bergsvand.
After dropping down to the bench last weekend, Katie Robinson could be brought back into the side for Sunday's contest.
Having scored seven times in nine league appearances, Terland will add to her tally when she features up front against the Villans.
Aston Villa Women possible starting lineup:
Van Domselaar; Mayling, Patten, Turner, Pacheco; Nobbs, Corsie, Dali; Leon, Hanson, Daly
Brighton & Hove Albion Women possible starting lineup:
Baggaley; Bergsvand, Thorisdottir, Kullberg; Rule, Symonds, Losada, Pattinson; Robinson, Bremer, Terland
We say: Aston Villa Women 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Women
With the two sides separated by just one point, we expect Sunday's contest to be a closely-fought affair, and while Aston Villa will want to claim their first home win of the WSL season, we think that they will have to settle for a draw against a Brighton team that usually fare well in away games against the Villans.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
