Manchester City

It has been a near-perfect start to the season for Manchester City in all competitions.

Gareth Taylor's side head into today's clash with Aston Villa level on points with Women's Super League leaders Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion above them on goal difference, although both have already played this weekend.

In eight matches all competitions this season, the Sky Blues have won seven and drawn once, including six wins on the spin and victories in all four of their Champions League matches.

On Wednesday night, City extended their recent run with a 3-2 win over St Polten in Vienna.

Aston Villa

Image source, Getty Images

Aston Villa head into today's lunchtime kick-off as one of four sides without a victory in this season's Women's Super League, under new boss Robert de Pauw.

In four league matches, Villa have picked up just two points from a possible 12, losing to Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion and drawing with Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City.

In two of their last three matches, Villa have dropped points in the last 15 minutes of games.

In their 2-2 draw with Spurs, Villa, who had taken the lead through Rachel Daly in the 88th minute, missed out on a first league win of the season as Beth England equalised in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

Against Brighton 15 days ago, the two sides had been level in the final 15 minutes when Paula Tomas was shown a straight red card, with Fran Kirby and Michelle Agyemang scoring late on to inflict a 4-2 defeat on Villa.

Daly has been key for Villa in the opening weeks of their season, scoring three of Villa's four goals so far, but Villa need more than that, as well as avoiding late slip-ups, to get their season truly off and running.

Manchester City

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor has been speaking to the media before today's Women's Super League game against Aston Villa (kick-off 12:15 BST).

Here are the key lines from his pre-match news conference:

• On Vivianne Miedema's fitness, Taylor said: "We don't think it's an issue that's going to keep her out for too long".
• Taylor said Wednesday's 3-2 win over St Polten in the Women's Champions League showed the "character" of the team.
• He said it's been a "good start" to the season with six straight wins despite thinking that City "couldn't have had much more of a difficult start".
• "The players have fire in their bellies and intensity in their manner," Taylor said when asked if he could see a difference from last season within his team.
• Aston Villa have "quality in the top end of the pitch" and "good options in back line".
• He said Villa forward Rachel Daly is "always really difficult to play against".
• Taylor said there is "never a good time" for international breaks but that he said the removal of the September international window was a "big improvement".

Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor names the same XI which started the 2-1 win over Liverpool last weekend in the Women's Super League.

That means Khiara Keating drops back to the bench, after starting against St. Polten midweek in the Champions League, withAyaka Yamashita starting in goal.

It also means Chloe Kelly, once again, is only among the subs.

Man City XI: Yamashita; Ouahabi, Aleixandri, Greenwood , Casparij; Roord, Hasegawa; Hemp, Fowler, Park; Shaw

Subs: Keating, Coombs, Kelly, Kennedy, Blindkilde Brown, Fujino, Prior, Thomas, Murphy

Robert De Pauw makes one change from the Aston Villa team which drew 0-0 with Leicester last weekend, as Katie Robinson comes in for Chasity Grant on the wing.

Aston Villa XI: D'Angelo; Maritz, Parker, Patten, Turner; Nobbs, Kearns; Robinson. Hanson, Nunes, Daly

Subs: Poor, Mayling, Pacheco, Taylor, Tucker, Grant, Dali, Salmon

We're on the countdown to kick-off at the Joie Stadium, so let's get the team news with less than 25 minutes to go...

There are five fixtures in full to look forward to today.

Manchester City will have the chance to go three points clear of the Women's Super League table if they beat Aston Villa in today's lunchtime kick-off.

Chelsea can also overtake the current top two, Manchester United and Brighton, should they win their London derby against Tottenham.

Villa, Leicester City, West Ham and Everton are all still searching for their first league wins of the season, with the quartet all drawing two of their first four WSL matches so far this season.

• Manchester City v Aston Villa (12:15 BST)
• Liverpool v Crystal Palace (14:00 BST)
• Leicester City v Everton (15:00 BST)
• West Ham v Arsenal (15:00 BST)
• Chelsea v Tottenham (18:45 BST)

Hello and welcome to today's Women's Super League live text page.

We have five of this weekend's six matches to look forward to, with title hopefuls Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal all among those.

It starts with City, who host Aston Villa in today's early kick-off at the Joie Stadium, getting under way at 12:15 BST, ending with a Kingsmeadow London derby between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at 18:45 BST.

Let's get straight into it and a look at today's fixtures in full.