Aston Villa Women 0-3 Manchester City Women: Stanway Destroys Villa Again

Manchester City Women continued their fine form by beating Aston Villa on a cold afternoon in Walsall. Georgia Stanway helped herself to another brace, with a Vicky Losada goal sandwiched in between as the blues moved within a point of the top four. It was a comfortable win for City, who had to wait an extra half an hour due to a frozen pitch, as they consolidated fifth place and their early season struggles now look to be firmly behind them.

Khiara Keating kept her place in goal after keeping a clean sheet at Leicester in midweek, and Demi Stokes came in at left back, while Lucy Bronze and Steph Houghton were again named in the back line.

The blues put five past Villa when the two teams met at the Academy Stadium in December, and last season, City had beaten the same opposition on the opening day, with Stanway being gifted both goals by the keeper.

And the young striker kept up her fine personal form with a goal after just five minutes. Her drive forward was followed by a deflected shot that wrong-footed the keeper and the blues were in front. City then continued to press forward but found the Villa defence in a stubborn mood. Stanway and Losada both had chances to increase the lead but didn’t take them, but the latter eventually did four minutes before the break.

Lucy Bronze drove forward and slipped a beautiful pass to Ellen White in the penalty area. The England striker’s ball into the box was inch-perfect for Losada, who had the simple task of tapping the ball home for 2-0.

City controlled the game throughout and could have had more, but for a combination of poor finishing and desperate defending. But there was nothing the Villa defence could do about the third goal, which came with 15 minutes remining.

Substitutes Filippa Angeldahl and Janine Beckie combined to set up Stanway, who made no mistake from close range.

It was a comfortable afternoon for the blues and another clean sheet for the youngster as City kept in touch with the teams at the top.

Final Score: Aston Villa Women 0-3 Manchester City Women