‘It’s the worst time to play them’ – Aston Villa boss Ward wary of Arsenal backlash | OneFootball

Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward says that this weekend is the worst possible time to face Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

The Gunners’ title hopes were dealt a major blow last weekend as they fell to a 3-1 defeat to reigning champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal looked a shade of their normal selves for long periods of that match.

Aston Villa play host to Arsenal in their next match at Villa Park this weekend. When speaking in the pre-match press conference, The Villans head coach Ward said that it is the worst possible time to face an Arsenal side that will clearly have a big point to prove.

“Honestly, I think it’s the worst time to play them, I think they’ll be hurting for a number of reasons,” Ward said. “You don’t want to play them after being beaten in the way that they were.

“It’s always tough playing against Arsenal but there’s no doubt about it, they’ll want to react and we have to face that.”

Aston Villa have endured a challenging campaign so far but the club remain well-placed to push for a top half of the table finish. Head coach Ward is feeling positive about the end of season prospects.

She said “It’s definitely been up and down. I alluded to it the other day, it’s like being in a boxing ring; you get punched, you get back up, you throw a punch, you’re quite happy then you get knocked back down again.

“It’s just been one of those seasons. We are resilient here, that’s one thing that we are; we like to get up, roll our sleeves up and find a way and we’ve continued to do that.

“Ultimately, whilst the stigma on the outside is that it has been disappointing, we are still within touching distance of the top six. I said before a ball was kicked that if we finish top six, it’d be a very successful season. We are not too far away from ending the season well.”

Aston Villa’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Arsenal is scheduled to kick-off at 6.45pm on Sunday evening. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.