West Ham United vs Aston Villa
Barclays FA Women’s Super League
Chigwell Construction Stadium
Saturday 11 September 2021
West Ham United Women are back at home in their second match of the new Barclays FA Women’s Super League season.
The Hammers welcome Aston Villa to the Chigwell Construction Stadium, looking to pick up their first points of the new campaign.
How to Watch
West Ham United supporters will have the opportunity to return to the Chigwell Construction Stadium for the first time since September 2020 Tickets are still on sale ahead of the game, with prices listed below:
Carling Stand:
Adults: £12
U16’s: £5
Over 65’s: £10
SD Samuels Stand:
Adults: £11
U16’s £5
Over 65’s: £9
Please call the ticket office on 0333 0301966 to purchase your tickets!
A full code of conduct for supporters can be found here!
Alternatively, if you can’t make it to the game on Saturday, then the match is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Premier League - with coverage beginning at 11am.
Team News
Olli Harder has two long-term absentees that will once again be unavailable for this fixture.
Katerina Svitkova is recovering from a long-term ankle that she sustained against Aston Villa at home back in April. The Czech Republic international has been working hard and is progressing well.
Maisy Barker will also be unavailable for selection tomorrow afternoon. The 19-year-old defender sustained a foot injury during the early stages of pre-season and is working well with our medical staff.
Hawa Cissoko is suspended this weekend after being sent off in last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Further team news will be available to read on whufc.com when our line-up is named at 10:30am on Saturday.
The Opposition:
Aston Villa – like West Ham United will be hoping to improve on their final league position for the 2020/21 campaign, with the Villains finishing one place below, but level on points with Harder’s team.
And like the Hammers, there has been a lot of change in personnel, with Carla Ward making the move across the second city, joining from Birmingham City in the summer. Ward brought three ex Blues players with her to Villa Park, and the side also purchased Alisha Lehmann and Maz Pacheco in the summer from the east Londoners
In total, there have been 10 new arrivals across the summer, the last of which was confirmed late on deadline day, with Australian forward Emily Gielnik joining from Swedish side Vittsjö GIK. A W-League champion with Brisbane Roar, Gielnik is likely to be Villa’s main goal threat on Saturday afternoon
Ward began her managerial reign in charge of Villa by turning things around against newly promoted Leicester. The home side were down by a goal to nil at half time, but two quickfire goals in the second half swung the game on its head, with the Villa picking up all three points on the opening day.
Previous Meetings:
The two sides met twice last season during the Barclays FA Women’s Super League season – with both fixtures ending in 0-0 draws. The away fixture at Villa Park on the penultimate match of the campaign saw both teams all but secure survival. The Hammers had the better of the play on the day and probably should have come away with three points.
From the Manager:
West Ham United Women’s Manager, Olli Harder: “Teams managed by Carla Ward are typically well organised. In their opening match, Villa were quite direct and will look to create problems from mistakes that we make, so if we limit the number of mistakes that we make in bad areas, then we will put ourselves in a good position to pick up points.
“From an attacking sense, if we’re a little bit more efficient in the final third and take some of those chances that we couldn’t last time out, then we have the opportunity to definitely score some goals this weekend.”
Final Reminder:
West Ham United v Aston Villa gets underway at 11:30am on Saturday 11 September.
Still undecided on whether you should come down and watch the girls in their opening home match? Here are five reasons why you should attend West Ham United Women v Aston Villa!
Tickets are available to purchase by clicking here.
We will also be bringing you live twitter updates as well as the usual array of post-match reaction and highlights pieces on whufc.com.
