Form Guide: FA Women’s Conti Cup Quarter Finals Arsenal v Aston Villa difficult to call by Michelle
The quarter final’s of the FA Conti Cup are taking place across 25th and 26th January. Arsenal will welcome Aston Villa to Meadow Park on Thursday 26th January with kick-off at 19:45 UK. Tickets are still available to purchase here. Below is the full table of fixtures:
After the debacle the WSL faced over the weekend, with frozen pitches forcing the postponement of 3 matches, we’re hoping these matches will be able to go ahead or that fan’s at the very least will get some fore-warning of any necessary postponements..
Let’s take a look at Aston Villa’s form:
Aston Villa Manager Carla Ward was rewarded with a contract extension last week and finished her week off nicely when Aston Villa held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Villa’s recruitment activity in the transfer market has been very impressive, bringing in England internationals Jordan Nobbs (from Arsenal) and Lucy Staniforth (from Manchester United) in the January window so far. After Villa held Man City to a draw striker Rachel Daly, who is joint-top of the scoring chart, told Sky Sports We’re on to something here. We knew we had to bring in some more depth and the new players coming in have changed the way we play.
So the Villans have a very happy Manager, a buzzing team and a top goalscorer heading to Meadow Park to give our Gunners a proper run for their money I’m sure! It will be so strange for Arsenal fans to see our very own legend Jordan Nobbs on the pitch for the opposition. Indeed, the last time Arsenal met Villa at Villa Park Nobbs was one of the goalscorers against Villa!
Let’s take a look at Arsenal’s form:
Let’s start by getting the obvious out of the way shall we? Arsenal do not have Beth Mead & Vivianne Miedema due to ACL injuries. Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall has also been very active in the January transfer window but has been unable, thus far, to secure a prolific striker which is what our Gunners are sadly lacking. That said, Arsenal still have a lot in their armoury!
Arsenal are sitting in 3rd position to Aston Villa’s 6th. We may see some new recruits on the pitch on Thursday but one would assume Eidevall would only let that happen if Arsenal lead the charge and get into a comfortable goal difference ahead of Villa. Arsenal have only played one game in 2023 so far, when they drew 1-1 with Chelsea after dominating the game.
This match is a really difficult one to call. If Arsenal had their full front-line armoury i would not hesitate in calling the game their way but Villa are on the up.. and they have our Nobbs! Arsenal are however very hungry for silverware this year -I think we can expect a great battle!
What are your thoughts on this match? Who do you think will get the upper hand?
By Michelle Maxwell
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