Aston Villa Women vs Arsenal Women. Women's Super League.
Villa ParkAttendance4,590.
Aston Villa Women 5
- J Nobbs (30th minute)
- K Hanson (46th minute)
- C Grant (46th minute, 73rd minute)
- R Daly (59th minute)
Arsenal Women 2
- S Blackstenius (68th minute)
- A Russo (71st minute)
Aston Villa Women 5-2 Arsenal Women: Chasity Grant nets twice as hosts thrash sloppy Gunners in WSL
Report and free match highlights as Jordan Nobbs and Kirsty Hanson gave Aston Villa a first-half lead; Chasity Grant scored twice after the break, alongside a Rachel Daly strike; Stina Blackstenius and Alessia Russo replied for Arsenal, who made multiple errors throughout
Wednesday 30 April 2025 23:04, UK
Aston Villa Women thrashed an incredibly sloppy Arsenal Women to secure a famous 5-2 victory.
The Gunners could not conjure the same performance or comeback that saw them beat Lyon in the Women's Champions League semi-finals on Sunday, and were instead outplayed and outfought at every turn by a depleted Villa.
The hosts took advantage of errors across the pitch from their opponents, combined with some wonderful team play, that saw them deservedly put five goals past the European finalists. Aston Villa have now won their last three WSL games as they look to end a disappointing season strongly.
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It was a former Gunner, too, who dealt the first blow on the half-hour. It was a brilliant break from Ebony Salmon after Arsenal had seen a chance stopped at the other end. The Villa forward then squared the ball for Jordan Nobbs, who slotted past Manuela Zinsberger.
Arguably the pick of the goals, though, came at the end of the first half courtesy of an impressive Kirsty Hanson. She fired a curling effort into the top corner from 25 yards, sending Aston Villa in at the break with a shock - but deserved - 2-0 lead.
Within 14 minutes of the restart, Villa had four goals on the board. Chasity Grant netted her first of the evening immediately after half-time, taking advantage of a defensive mix-up between Katie McCabe and her goalkeeper. She pounced on the error before easily slotting home.
And just before the hour, Daly toe-poked home Aston Villa's fourth after a great team move that started with goalkeeper Sabrina D'Angelo - another former Gunner.
But Arsenal had some skin in the game, and you thought a comeback was on as Stina Blackstenius, coolly slotting home, and Alessia Russo, scoring a header from WSL debutant Katie Reid's cross, netted within three minutes of one another to half the deficit.
However, any hopes of a grandstand finish were dashed as Aston Villa made it 5-2 minutes after Russo's goal. It was a second for Grant, who played a neat one-two before bursting through on goal, before lifting the ball over Zinsberger.
The result leaves Arsenal nine points behind champions Chelsea and two ahead of Man Utd in second.
Arsenal face Man Utd on the final day of the WSL season on May 11.
Slegers: We didn't reach a level today
Arsenal boss Renee Slegers:
"We knew this game was going to be a big challenge for us, coming away from a great result and success last Sunday to the two days to turn it around with travel and a lot of mental and physical demands and coming here to Aston Villa, and respect to Aston Villa, I think they've secured their spot in the league.
"They've come away from two wins, they're developing their style of play and they did really well. They played free and brave today, because they could, and I think they exposed us and we didn't reach a level today.
"There's so many learnings from this game and how you prepare and how you execute and how you recover and we want to bring all the learnings because we want to be on the highest level, playing the biggest games and playing a lot of games.
"So, for us, all the learnings and we want to start applying them against Brighton on Monday."
Williamson: Lyon comeback drained us emotionally
Arsenal defender Leah Williamson speaking to Sky Sports News:
"It's tough, really disappointing. It was a big, big weekend against Lyon and we needed to come and perform again but physically, emotionally that game maybe drained us too much.
"We prepared so hard for this game, we knew the risk of coming here and that result happening
"We have to regroup and go againch
"Nothing changes, we're still together as a team. We unravelled in the second half which is tough but we're not turning on each other. I'd rather we learned this lesson now.
"We've had tough moments under Renee. We have to be able to ride that storm and come out the other side."
