“We have the energy to kill opponents,” says Natalia Arroyo ahead of Brighton clash | OneFootball

Aston Villa manager Natalia Arroyo was full of praise for her persistent side in her pre-match press conference and understands her team’s strength in transition, which has helped Villa get points on the board this season.

Arroyo displayed her admiration for Dario Vidosic ahead of their clash with Brighton & Hove Albion this Saturday and when talking to the media in her pre-match press conference, she provided the latest squad availability and her hopes for the next twelve months in the Aston Villa hot seat.

“We will have Gabi [Nunes] back, she has been back in training,” the Spaniard confirmed.

Paula Tomás, Lucy Staniforth and Kirstie Hanson all remain on the side lines for this weekend’s fixture, but Arroyo has confirmed she will be naming a full squad with academy players also set to feature.

Villa ran out 5-2 winners against UEFA Women’s Champions League finalists Arsenal recently and the three points have provided confidence throughout the camp, says the Villa boss.

“We use this energy of winning against Arsenal as an extra power to fill us with confidence, to feel that you are able to perform at this level against a top team.'”

“They [Brighton] will come to Villa Park with the same vibe, they struggled a few months ago to keep this good rhythm that they had at the beginning of the season.”

“I enjoyed watching Brighton from Spain at the beginning of the season, I like the approach of Dario [Vidosic] managing the rhythms of the game, they have a very clear strategy with possession and we know it will be tough because they have good rotations.”

“They manipulate you in a way where it would be difficult for us to be aggressive as we want to be, the players understand the type of game that we need to play.”

Arroyo also reflected on her time as the Aston Villa head coach so far and what she wishes to achieve in the West Midlands for the next 12 months.

“We are winning most of the time because we have this power in counter-attack, we have pace, we have energy to kill opponents in the transition.”

“We need to build a little bit better in our possession phase when we are approaching teams or games like West Ham, they are better organisers and it can set you back in the game so we need to be better on that.”

“Tomorrow will be a good test because we will need to be better in possession and still have this aggression in transition.”

“Step by step we are getting good results and building our identity.”

With the WSL season in the closing stages, Arroyo is excited for the summer transfer window and has said Villa must add ‘different types of players’ to the squad:

“We are happy in the moment that we are leaving now, but we need to look at the big picture.”

“We need to do some changes, we need to add different types of players and we are still in that process,” added Arroyo.

“I don’t expect big signings or big decisions tomorrow, it needs to be when we are ready to bring the right players to be able to build the best project possible.”

“We know about our budget, we have an ambitious summer in front of us.”