Aston Villa Women: Three things learned in 4-1 defeat v Arsenal in WSL
Aston Villa fell to a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Arsenal in the Women’s Super League at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon (11 December), making it nine goals conceded in two games for Carla Ward’s side.
Although the home side experienced the dream start to proceedings, with Kirsty Hanson netting the opener after just six minutes, they reached the break in arrears following an own goal from Rachel Corsie and a second from Viviane Miedema.
Villa had several chances to level the match as they started the second half brightly, but when Hannah Hampton’s clearance fell to Katie McCabe and was subsequently finished, the home side ran out of steam – with Jordan Nobbs making it four in the closing stages.
There’s plenty for Ward to mull over after the loss, but here are three things that Villa News learned from the home defeat.
Hanson explodes into life
Villa’s left winger had one hell of a game, despite the end result.
Her opener was an incredible curled effort after being picked out by Kenza Dali on the left wing. Cutting inside from her flank, the 24-year-old struck the ball beyond the outstretched palms of Manuela Zinsberger and duly set the tone for the rest of her performance.
The Manchester United loanee was a constant menace in attack all afternoon and did well to carve open opportunities against a strong Arsenal side.
She nearly added a second goal to her name on the 75-minute mark, but Zinsberger got down well to deny her effort from sneaking into the bottom corner.
Leaky defence
Another four goals conceded by Villa will be a worry to Ward after shipping five at Old Trafford last week.
Albeit facing two strong outfits in Arsenal and Manchester United, the defensive solidity of her side has been brought into question following some suspect defending.
The Gunners’ opener was an early Christmas present from Hannah Hampton, who fumbled a Katie McCabe cross, which inadvertently deflected in off Corsie.
Again Hampton was partly at fault for the third after she slid out to clear a dangerous cross and the ball fell to McCabe, who took the opportunity with open arms.
An upcoming fixture against direct league rivals Tottenham is an opportunity to put these wrongs right.
Injuries come back to bite Villa
Ward had just four options to choose from the bench on Sunday due to the ridiculous number of players who are currently sidelined with injuries.
Forward Emily Gielnik and Isobel Goodwin both came on as substitutes, but the manager had limited resources to call upon as she tried to pull her side back into the encounter.
It was simply out of Ward’s hands to try and impact the game as it reached its latter stages, and it quite clearly highlights that Villa needs to invest in their squad in the January transfer window.
Fresh faces could well give the whole squad a morale boost as they head into the new year.
In other Aston Villa news, Kadan Young leaves Marc Cucurella red-faced during his fantastic cameo against Chelsea.