Preview: Leicester Women vs. Aston Villa Women - prediction, team news, lineups

Leicester Women will welcome Aston Villa Women to the Pirelli Stadium on Sunday with the hosts looking to claim consecutive victories.

As for the visitors, they sit in 10th place in the Women's Super League, and head into the weekend's contest low on confidence after losing their last four games in all competitions.

Match preview

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After taking over from Jonathan Morgan in December, Lydia Bedford has overseen both of Leicester's only two league wins of the season

Both of those two victories have come from Leicester's last three league games, including a crucial 1-0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, which helped the Foxes climb out of the relegation zone.

A second-half strike from Shannon O'Brien guided Leicester to a crucial 1-0 home victory that leaves them two points clear of safety.

As well as collecting their second league win of the season, the result also saw Leicester keep just their second WSL clean sheet.

With both league victories this term taking place on home turf, Bedford will be fully aware of the importance of Sunday's fixture, especially as they face a Villa side that are only four points clear of the Foxes.

As for Aston Villa, they enter the weekend's contest off the back of a poor run of results that has seen them lose seven of their last eight league games.

With six points separating themselves and the drop zone, the Villains are in desperate need of points if they are to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle.

In their first fixture of 2022, Carla Ward's side played host to Manchester City last weekend and it proved to be a tough afternoon for Aston Villa, with a Georgia Stanway brace and a Victoria Losada guiding the visitors to a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Having collected seven of their 10 points from away games this season, the Villains will be relishing an away fixture against a fellow Midlands side on Sunday.

Both of Aston Villa's away league victories saw them claim narrow 1-0 wins and if they are to collect three points at the weekend, they may have to claim another shutout.

Team News

Bedford has stated that she has no new injury concerns ahead of Sunday's contest.

Connie Schofield, Paige Bailey-Gayle and Kirstie Levell all took part in some form of training this week following their respective injury problems, but Sunday's fixture will come too soon for the trio.

Freya Gregory is ineligible to face her parent club on Sunday, which could mean that there is a place in the starting lineup for Natasha Flint.

Meanwhile, Sophie Haywood is still unavailable for the visitors as she continues her recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Aston Villa's vice-captain Remi Allen missed the Manchester City encounter, but she is expected to return to the starting lineup for the Leicester clash.

Anna Patten impressed on her Villa debut last weekend, and the Arsenal loanee will once again feature in the backline on Sunday.

Leicester Women possible starting lineup:
Lambourne; Howard, McManus, Plumptre; De Graaf, Tierney, Pike, Purfield; Sigsworth, Flint, O'Brien

Aston Villa Women possible starting lineup:
Hampton; Mayling, Patten, Sargeant, Pacheco; Arthur, Allen, Brown; Lehmann, Boye-Hlorkah, Hayles

We say: Leicester Women 1-0 Aston Villa Women

Aston Villa won the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season, but a lot has changed since then, and they will face a Leicester side on Sunday who have shown signs of improvement under their new manager.

Although we think the contest will be close, the momentum is with the Foxes, and we believe that they will edge out the Villains to claim all three points.

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