Again City's corner comes to nothing. Boss Gareth Taylor is already closely studying his monitor in the dugout.

A poor backpass from Esme Morgan gifts Villa a corner, but Steph Houghton clears well.

City are moving the ball around well in the early stages as Demi Stokes wins a corner off Alisha Lehmann.

Fara Williams
Former England midfielder on BBC Two

You can already see in the Manchester City build-up, they are still trying to play the same way they did when Keira Walsh was so key to that team.

City win a free-kick on the left flank and it's another opportunity for Alex Greenwood, but again the Villa defence stands firm.

Kirsty Hanson comes forward for the hosts and the ball eventually falls to Mayumi Pacheco, whose cross is met by new signing Rachel Daly, who can't keep her header on target.

Alex Greenwood's delivery is well dealt with by the Villa defence.

City play out of defence well and attack down the right through Chloe Kelly.

Her cross is blocked and the ball goes out for the game's first corner.

The players take the knee and we get under way at Villa Park.

One Lioness in for Aston Villa but five out for Manchester City including Keira Walsh. Could be interesting to see how they fare today.

Image source, BBC Sport

A minute's silence for the late Queen Elizabeth II is impeccably upheld at Villa Park.

Fans also rise to sing the national anthem God Save the King.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Going by the stats, starting the season with a win is going to be a tall order for the hosts today.

• Aston Villa have lost all four of their Barclays WSL matches against Manchester City to date, conceding 17 goals while failing to score at all themselves.
• Manchester City have a goal difference of +17 against Aston Villa in the Barclays WSL, never conceding against them. It’s the most goals they’ve scored against any opponent in the competition without ever conceding.
• Aston Villa have scored only twice across their last eight matches in the Barclays WSL, failing to score in any of their last three. They last went four games without a goal in the competition back in March 2021.
• Manchester City haven’t lost their opening Barclays WSL match in any of their last eight seasons (W5 D3) since a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool in their first campaign in 2014.

Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor, speaking on BBC Two: "I want us to play well. I think there's some familiar faces in the starting XI today.

"But we look strong and I think we strong as a bench as well. We look strong as a group of players.

"Asking supporters for a bit of patience and they will be right behind us."

Image source, Getty Images

All WSL matches are available to watch on the BBC, Sky Sports or the Football Association website.

You can also watch highlights on the Women's Football Show - the WSL version of Match of the Day - which is broadcast on Sunday nights on BBC One.

The BBC will broadcast one game from each round of matches. Many will be on BBC One or BBC Two - and all those will be on the iPlayer. Sky have rights to two games a week.

Any games not on TV will be available to watch for free on the FA Player.

Image source, Getty Images

It's been a summer of change for Manchester City with nine players departing the club and seven joining.

The biggest departure was England midfielder Keira Walsh's world-record move to Barcelona, which followed Ellen White's retirement, with City boss Gareth Taylor admitting their exits came as a "jolt".

"Ellen's retirement and Keira moving late was a bit of a jolt. Up until that point we were probably in a pretty good place," said Taylor.

"It left us with about a week when we realised Keira wanted to leave and had requested to go. We had to strengthen and we managed to do that with Yui Hasegawa, which we are really happy about.

"There are a lot of changes but we're pretty content with where we're at. We have lost experience and brought in players we think are very good for the future."

Read more here.

Aston Villa include the majority of their big summer signings in their starting XI.

Rachel Daly, Kenza Dali, Danielle Taylor and Rachel Corsie all come in for their debuts, with Scotland defender Corsie captaining the side as Remi Allen battles back from a long-term knee injury.

While there's no Natasha Harding, on-loan Manchester United forward Kirsty Hanson also starts as does defender Anna Patten, who has arrived from Arsenal on loan.

Aston Villa XI: Hampton, Mayling, Patten, Corsie, Pacheco, Turner, Dali, Brown, Hanson, Rachel Daly, Lehmann.

Subs: Gielnik, Mcloughlin, Gregory, Leat, Goodwin, Evie Rabjohn, McAteer.

Image source, @AVWFCOfficial

Manchester City are without Japan midfielder Yui Hasegawa, Ruby Mace and Australia international Alanna Kennedy but Laia Aleixandri makes her WSL debut after joining the club from Atletico Madrid in the summer.

Captain Steph Houghton also makes a return to the City line-up along with Esme Morgan after long-term injuries.

Lionesses Ellie Roebuck, Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly are also included in Gareth Taylor's XI. Venezuela forward Deyna Castellanos begins on the bench.

Man City XI: Roebuck, Morgan, Houghton, Greenwood, Stokes, Aleixandri, Angeldahl, Coombs, Kelly, Hemp, Shaw.

Subs: MacIver, Casparij, Fowler, Castellanos, Raso, Ouahabi, Losada, Hutchings, Blakstad.

Image source, @mancitywomen

Now, let's have a look at today's teams...

Clubs are enjoying record ticket sales as the Women's Super League prepares to kick off this weekend and capitalise on England's memorable summer success in the European Championship.

The opening of the campaign was put back by a week following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, resulting in a number of showpiece games in front of bumper crowds due at the start of the season being switched to later this term.

However, excitement for the upcoming season is undimmed, and 10 of the 12 sides will play some matches at the larger main stadiums used by their male counterparts.

Arsenal are set to break the WSL attendance record after selling 45,000 tickets for the North London Derby with Tottenham later this month.

Champions Chelsea have sold out their 1,500 season tickets for the second season in a row.

Like Arsenal, Manchester United began their season in dominant fashion with defender Maya le Tissier scoring twice on her debut in a 4-0 win over Reading.

Le Tissier, 20, joined from Brighton this summer and impressed in a centre-back role with two goals from corners.

United captain Katie Zelem, making her 100th appearance, assisted both of those goals and scored one of her own.

Euro 2022 winner Alessia Russo headed in another before half-time in front of a record crowd at Leigh Sports Village.

Before we move on to today's action, a recap of the two games that have been played already this weekend.

Beth Mead scored twice as Arsenal began their campaign with a comfortable win against Brighton at a sold-out Meadow Park.

Captain Kim Little and forward Stina Blackstenius struck either side of the break before Mead took the tally up to four.

The Euro 2022 top scorer became the leading goalscorer in WSL opening-day history with two clinical finishes in 21 second-half minutes to seal a confident victory for the Gunners.

Brighton were reduced to 10 players in the seventh minute as Emma Kullberg was sent off for bringing Blackstenius down when the Sweden international was through on goal.

It was the season opener for both sides following the postponement of the first round of WSL fixtures to honour the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

BBC Two

You can watch the first of today's games on BBC Two, or simply click the icon at the top of this page.

Coverage begins at 12:15 BST.

Good afternoon and welcome to the first WSL Sunday of the season.

It promises to be an exciting day with champions Chelsea among the eight teams getting their campaign under way.

Emma Hayes' side travel to newly-promoted Liverpool this evening, but we have three games to bring you before that.

Here's how today is looking:

• Aston Villa v Manchester City (12:30 BST)
• Leicester City v Tottenham (15:00)
• West Ham v Everton (15:00)
• Liverpool v Chelsea (17:00)