Aston Villa boss Ward expecting high-quality game of football against Everton | OneFootball

Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward is expecting a game of high-quality football when her side travel to Everton this afternoon.

The Villans go into the game in fifth position in the Barclays Women’s Super League table while opponents Everton are just a point behind in sixth.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Aston Villa boss Ward heaped praise on Everton for their style of football and she is expecting a good game at Walton Hall Park this afternoon.

“They are a good footballing side, you’ll see a good game of football, proper football,” Ward said. “We’ve played them twice already and they have been exceptional games of football. Both teams will play, both teams will look after the ball and both teams will attack in the right way.

“Credit to them, they’ve had a really good season. They’re a team that I’ve spoken about a bit this year because I admire the way that they play, they play in a similar way.

“I think it’ll be a good match, a tight one but hopefully, a good one for the neutral.”

Aston Villa recorded an excellent penalty shootout victory over West Ham United at The Chigwell Construction Stadium in the fifth round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup last weekend. The Villans showed great character to overcome mental and physical challenges to win that tie. Ward hailed the character in the dressing room and she knows that it will be needed in abundance again this afternoon.

She said “We’ve shown a lot of character all season, I’ve said that we are strong. Last week, we needed it more than we ever did, not just for the last moments, there were obviously a number of things that happened in that game. We needed to show character, we needed to show desire; both teams were tired mentally and physically after the international break. We’ve shown that we have a lot of character in this dressing room.

“We’ve been a team that have played free-flowing football and that creates opportunities, so we want to continue in that way. We also know that we are coming up against a team with a lot of quality, so we are going to have to be at our best to hopefully, take the three points.”

Aston Villa’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Everton kicks-off at 1pm.