Villa equalise within two minutes of the visitors taking the lead, but a three-goal burst halfway through the second half crushes Villa and leaves them defeated for the second successive weekend.

Oriane Jean-François, Jenna Nighswonger and Milly Round make their WSL debuts for Villa, becoming the 73rd, 74th and 75th players to represent Villa in the WSL, respectively.
For Nighswonger and Round, it’s their club debuts.
Lucy Staniforth makes her first WSL start of the season.
Kirsty Hanson scored her seventh goal in thirteen WSL games this season.
Villa fall back into 7th position in the table, level on points with the London City Lionesses but seven clear of Leicester in 9th, and nine ahead of bottom side Liverpool.

2025-26 WSL Appearance & Goal Record
GK Ellie Roebuck 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 3 | ✅ 2 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺8 |
FB Lynn Wilms 🇳🇱 2025-26 WSL 🕒 10 | ✅ 10 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 1 | 🔥 1 | 🇺0 |
CB Lucy Parker 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 5 | ✅ 4 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 2 | 🔥 0 | 🇺4 |
CB Anna Patten 🇮🇪 2025-26 WSL 🕒 12 | ✅ 12 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺1 |
CB Océane Deslandes 🇫🇷 2025-26 WSL 🕒 12 | ✅ 10 | 🔁 2 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
FB Noelle Maritz 🇨🇭 2025-26 WSL 🕒 10 | ✅ 10 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 2 | 🇺0 |
DM Miri Taylor 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 12 | ✅ 8 | 🔁 4 | ⚽ 1 | 🔥 1 | 🇺1 |
M Lucy Staniforth 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 4 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 3 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
F Maya Hijikata 🇯🇵 2025-26 WSL 🕒 5 | ✅ 4 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
F Georgia Mullett 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 11 | ✅ 4 | 🔁 7 | ⚽ 1 | 🔥 1 | 🇺1 |
F Kirsty Hanson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 13 | ✅ 11 | 🔁 2 | ⚽ 7 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
F Ebony Salmon 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 12 | ✅ 6 | 🔁 6 | ⚽ 1 | 🔥 0 | 🇺1 |
M Oriane Jean-François 🇫🇷 2025-26 WSL 🕒 1 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
LB Jenna Nighswonger 🇺🇸 2025-26 WSL 🕒 1 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
F Milly Round 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 1 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺2 |
GK Sabrina D'Angelo 🇨🇦 2025-26 WSL 🕒 11 | ✅ 11 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺1 |
CB Lydia Sallaway 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 0 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺11 |
LB Rachel Maltby 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 10 | ✅ 8 | 🔁 2 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 1 | 🇺3 |
M Pippa Lea 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 0 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺2 |
CM Lucia Kendall 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 11 | ✅ 10 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 1 | 🇺1 |
F Rachel Daly 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 12 | ✅ 10 | 🔁 2 | ⚽ 3 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
CM Missy Bo Kearns 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 11 | ✅ 8 | 🔁 3 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 1 | 🇺0 |
GK Soffia Kelly 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 0 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺6 |
W Chasity Grant 🇳🇱 2025-26 WSL 🕒 10 | ✅ 10 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 2 | 🇺0 |
LB Paula Tomás 🇪🇸 2025-26 WSL 🕒 5 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 5 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺1 |
FB Sarah Mayling 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 8 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 7 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺3 |
M Imogen Seymour 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 0 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺2 |
D Katie Scott 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 0 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺1 |
GK Lily Clark 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2025-26 WSL 🕒 0 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺1 |
AM Jill Baijings 🇳🇱 2025-26 WSL 🕒 3 | ✅ 3 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |

Match Report
Villa suffered a 4-1 defeat in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday at Villa Park, losing to Manchester United. Despite a strong first-half effort from the Villans, where Kirsty Hanson equalised Julia Zigiotti Olme’s early goal with a direct corner, the second half saw goals from Elisabeth Terland, Jess Park, and Hanna Lundkvist, which sealed the win for United. Arroyo made two changes from her last starting lineup, bringing in Georgia Mullett and Océane Deslandes while Ellie Roebuck kept goal and Anna Patten reached her 100th WSL appearance. Early in the game, Hanson was the first to threaten, hitting a shot narrowly wide, but United gained momentum as Wangerheim and Malard created chances, with Roebuck making crucial saves. United took the lead with a Zigiotti corner that was deflected into the net, but Villa responded swiftly with Hanson’s goal after a run by Maritz. Both teams attacked fiercely, with Roebuck stopping another Zigiotti corner, and the game remained competitive until the break. In the second half, Villa pressed but couldn’t convert, while United found a new gear. Terland scored from close range, and Nighswonger and Salmon came close to equalising before Lundkvist sealed the victory. United’s second-half dominance was clear as they exploited gaps in Villa’s defence, and their win moved them higher in the standings, leaving Villa in seventh place.