Aston Villa head to the capital to take on Crystal Palace in an important Women's Super League encounter this afternoon.
Three points will firmly be in the Villans' sights as a win today can help steer the side up the table and away from the Eagles who currently sit one place below them in 12th.
Natalia Arroyo's side will also be looking to pick up their first league win of the calendar year and bounce back from last week's Women's FA Cup quarter-final exit.
Villa bowed out of this year's competition after a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on the road last weekend. Despite a much improved performance from the team goals from Khadija Shaw and Jess Park were enough to do the damage and see City book their place in the final four.
Today's opponents, Crystal Palace, were also knocked out of the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage last weekend as they were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea.
It was a valiant performance from the Eagles as Chelsea had to wait until the 64th minute to find the opener with Lauren James' goal being the only difference in the fixture.
Stats
Villa won their only previous WSL meeting with Palace 3-2 in November 2024, with Ebony Salmon scoring the Villans' latest ever winning goal in the competition (93:11).
Villa are unbeaten in all seven of their WSL games against newly promoted opposition (W5 D2), winning all three of their away games versus such opposition.
Kirsty Hanson could make her 100th WSL appearance in today's game; she has never ended up on the losing side against newly promoted opposition in the top-flight.
Lexi Potter has won possession the most often (92) and made the most tackles (49) and interceptions (21) of any Palace player in the WSL this season. Her 49 tackles are the most ever by a player aged 18 or younger in a season, overtaking Kasia Lipka's 48 in 2011.
The Last Meeting
HIGHLIGHTS | Aston Villa 3-2 Crystal Palace
A dramatic last-minute winner from Ebony Salmon secured Villa their first league win of the 2024/25 WSL season at Villa Park the last time these two sides met.
Goals from Anna Patten and Rachel Daly gave the Villans the lead at the break after My Cato opened the scoring for the away side.
Annabel Blanchard looked to have stolen a point for Palace with a late goal but substitute Salmon rocketed an incredible winner deep into stoppage time to ensure all three points remained in B6.
Team News
Sarah Mayling suffered an ankle injury in last weekend's FA Cup tie and is expected to be sidelined for six weeks.
Lucy Staniforth and Rachel Corsie both remain out of action but are nearing a return to the matchday squad.
Maz Pacheco has returned to full team training and is in contention to feature today.
Head Coach
"It will be an emotional game and we need to deal with everything. We need to be ready for everything in this roller coaster of emotions but the team are filled with confidence and this fire and it's up to us (staff) to match the intensity that they will bring to the game. This will be a game played with the heart, with passion, with the emotions but it also needs to be played with our heads. We need to be smart."
Natalia Arroyo
