Aston Villa’s Jordan Nobbs is Arsenal’s record appearance holder in the WSL, scoring 52 league goals in 157 appearances for the Gunners between 2011 and 2022 before joining the Villans; Nobbs’ only previous outing against Arsenal in the competition came from the bench in a 2-1 loss earlier this season.

Lindsay Johnson
Ex-England defender on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It's a really quick and intense start by Arsenal. They are really high up the pitch and have put lots of pressure on Aston Villa who have not been able to get out of their defensive third. You can see the intent.

Image source, Reuters

Frida Maanum with the first chance of the match for the visitors but she is unable to hit the target and drags an effort wide of the post.

We are under way at Villa Park. These are the starting line-ups.

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Lindsay Johnson
Ex-England defender on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal were well-beaten last week by a depleted Chelsea side. Tonight they have the opportunity to put that in the past and get the three points they need to stay with the teams in front of them. That's massively important. It's a really bad time for Aston Villa to play Arsenal because they have got to get the three points tonight.

Arsenal

Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall speaking to Sky Sports about Lia Walti's injury: "Unfortunately she got a minor knee injury in training that will keep her out for several weeks. We will update more specifically when we know more."

On whether it's a season-ending injury: "It's several weeks. The season is not so many more months but it's several weeks and we need to take it week by week."

On bouncing back from the defeat by Chelsea: "We need to rectify our performance and show another version of ourselves. Today we have the opportunity."

On the travel disruption which delayed kick-off: "There is a lot of things that can impact our ability to perform positively and negatively. Sometimes things do not go exactly to plan. Can we adapt? Can we still have the mindset on the objective? I think we have been very good on that so far. We need the make the best of the situation as always."

Arsenal thrashed Aston Villa 4-0 earlier this month in the semi-finals of the Women's League Cup.

The Gunners scored all their goals inside the opening 40 minutes, with Stina Blackstenius grabbing a hat-trick, with Frida Maanum also on the scoresheet.

But the last WSL meeting between the two sides was a much more thrilling encounter at Emirates Stadium in October.

Arsenal scored twice in stoppage time as England forward Beth Mead, playing her first game for 11 months after a serious knee injury, helped the Gunners grab a dramatic win over Villa.

Mead came on in the 88th minute and set up the winning goal, scored by her Lionesses team-mate Alessia Russo to spark scenes of celebration for the majority of a crowd of more than 35,000 at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners had been heading for defeat before Katie McCabe fired into the roof of the net in the 92nd minute to set up the incredible finish.

Villa had taken a first-half lead against the run of play when Maz Pacheco was left unmarked and powered in a header from Lucy Staniforth's superb corner in the 25th minute.

But, in a frantic finale that also saw Blackstenius hit the post and have a shot cleared off the line, Villa could not hold on for what would have been a memorable win.

BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

We are live with our commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra so press the play button at the top of this page to listen to our team of Tom Gayle and Ex-England defender Lindsay Johnson.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa boss Carla Ward tells Sky Sports about the delay to kick-off: "It's never ideal but we're at Villa Park where there are great facilities, we have an unbelievable nutritionist and they will be prepared, that's for sure."

On the virus that has affected players and Ward herself this week: "We had a couple of players that missed the early part of the week. I feel like I've been hit by a train the last two days with it. I've been nowhere near the players and I won't be near the players today, I'll be upstairs. They are prepared and the staff have done a wonderful job the last 24 hours. They are hungry for this tonight."

On aiming for top six finish: "It makes it difficult when Tottenham and Liverpool keep winning games. We know what we're up against today and Arsenal are a top side. We know it won't be easy."

Image source, PA Media

This game was expected to start at 18:45 GMT before traffic congestion forced a 45-minute delay to kick-off time.

For Arsenal, it is the second embarrassing incident in successive matches.

Away at Chelsea last time out, the Gunners' preparations were not helped by an unfortunate kit issue, which saw the game delayed for half an hour as their white socks were the same colours as Chelsea.

An Arsenal official bought black socks from the Chelsea megastore and then had to cover over the Blues' logo with tape, although that tape started to come off some players' socks as the match progressed.

Chelsea socked it to the Gunners, winning 3-1.

Arsenal are aiming to put last week’s 3-1 defeat at Chelsea behind them.

“You need to shift the mindset,” Gunners boss Jonas Eidevall said.

“Once you learn what you need to learn, you start looking forward and that is what we have been doing.”

Aston Villa manager Carla Ward is expecting a response from Arsenal, who beat her side 4-0 in their League Cup semi-final at the start of March.

“It is the worst time to play them – they will be hurting,” she said.

Arsenal captain Kim Little says her side's hopes of winning the Women's Super League title this season "slipped away slightly" after their 3-1 loss at leaders Chelsea last time out

Emma Hayes' Chelsea have finished top in each of the past four seasons, with the Gunners having only six league games left and trailing both Chelsea and Manchester City by nine points.

"It slipped away slightly, Chelsea are obviously in the driving seat," said Little. "We will give it everything we've got to give it a small chance."

After a 30-minute delay because of an embarrassing kit mix-up that saw Arsenal bring the wrong socks to the match and have to buy replacement ones from the Chelsea megastore, the Gunners conceded three times in the opening 32 minutes.

But Little did not use the incident as an excuse.

"We're all professionals, we have to cope with adapting to things," she added. "We all know we need to turn up as soon as that whistle blows and we didn't do it in the way we wanted to.

"There were a few tactical elements early on that we didn't fix quick enough and against a team of Chelsea's quality you can't allow that."

Watch highlights from last Friday as Chelsea produced a dominant performance to comfortably beat title rivals Arsenal 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.

West Ham United

West Ham defender Shelina Zadorsky speaking to Sky Sports: "It is a mix of knowing we created a lot of good goalscoring opportunities and we have to put those away. At the same time, as a defender, we are frustrated to concede, especially off set pieces and second phase, so there's little tweaks we need to make. There are some positives to take away but we need to be able to win games."

On the goal ruled out for offside: "It's football. It is hard but you have to move on. I haven't seen it back yet, it is frustrating in those moments but as a professional there are 90 minutes to play and we have to keep going. I think someone else will deal with that, not me.

"Yes we knew [at half time] but we have to put our energy into the areas we can control. Those calls are frustrating but we created chances and that's positive. We need to keep clean sheets."

On West Ham's clean sheet record: "I think credit to the work rate. Our midfielders and forwards work so hard and we got in dangerous positions. When we get forward with speed we can really use the spaces in between the back line and that is what we did a lot."

On if this performance has to be a benchmark: "It is consistency we need to find. Going to Liverpool that wasn't our best performance so to bounce back like we did today was good. It is just about being consistent and putting in those performances against every team."

West Ham United

West Ham manager Rehanne Skinner speaking to Sky Sports about the disallowed goal: "It's not good enough, the bottom line is, if that's how I operated in my job, I wouldn't be in my job. That's the bottom lin. People can say it's because we've lost 2-0 and things like that but it's because it's a frequent occurrence and it's three games now.

"Apologies post the game doesn't change the outcome. we have to work so hard and I'm so proud of the players performance today, I thought we were superb, we created good moments and good chances and I just think it's really disappointing that you come out of that with no points to be honest."

On changes that need to be made: "A lot of people are talking about VAR and things like that and if that's what we need to do to get results right then that's what we need to do.

"Ultimately the referees still aren't professional in this game so they're not actually in a situation where they are solely focussing on these games and I think that has just got to change.

"The game has still got so much growing up to do, we're still not right across the board with the game.

Image source, Reuters

Chelsea returned to the top of the Women's Super League with a battling victory at West Ham.

Aggie Beever-Jones and Erin Cuthbert were on target as the Blues moved back above Manchester City on goal difference with five games remaining.

Chelsea were made to work hard for the points by a spirited West Ham side, who did play like a team sitting second-bottom of the table.

A pulsating first half saw the Hammers nearly take the lead after 20 seconds through Viviane Asseyi's header, only for Chelsea to go up the other end and score with their first attack.

Lauren James ran on to a searching through ball into the penalty area and played a neat first-time cutback for Beever-Jones to smash home from close range.

The Hammers felt aggrieved when Honoka Hayashi had the ball in the Chelsea net but was flagged offside, despite replays showing the Japan midfielder was behind the last defender as she ran on to a flicked header.

Cuthbert sealed the points late on with a thumping volley from inside the area.

Brighton came from behind to beat Leicester in a thrilling Women's Super League contest at King Power Stadium.

The result lifts Mikey Harris' side to eighth in the WSL table, a point and a place above the Foxes.

Jutta Rantala put the hosts in front but Madison Haley equalised and Katie Robinson then added Brighton's second.

In a frantic finale Lena Petermann levelled for Leicester before Elisabeth Terland scored the winner for the Seagulls one minute later.

While Leicester and assistant boss Jennifer Foster, who is currently taking charge of the team in the absence of Willie Kirk will be aggrieved to have come away without even a point after a much-improved second-half display, Brighton will also feel they merited their victory.

Image source, PA Media

Bethany England scored her first Women's Super League goal of the season to earn Tottenham victory over bottom side Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

England fired the visitors in front after two minutes when she collected Grace Clinton's searching pass, cut inside two players and rifled home left-footed into the near post.

Robert Vilahamn's side should have won more comfortably but were guilty of missing a hatful of chances to put the result beyond doubt.

Celin Bizet twice went close in a matter of minutes, while Jessica Naz missed the target when well placed inside the area shortly before half-time.

In the second half, Drew Spence saw a stinging effort tipped over by Robins goalkeeper Fran Bentley, who was playing her first game since the opening weekend of the season after recovering from injury.

Substitute Wang Shuang also hit the bar with a header from Eveliina Summanen's corner.

Tottenham remain sixth, but are now just three points behind Manchester United in fifth. Bristol City are six points adrift of safety after a 13th defeat from their 17 league games this season.

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport at Goodison Park

Everton and Liverpool played out a goalless draw in the Merseyside derby in an uneventful afternoon at Goodison Park.

The visitors arrived in good form, knowing a point would be enough to jump above Manchester United into fourth place in the table, while Everton were seeking a first victory this month.

The Reds had triumphed just once in seven WSL meetings with Everton but there was confidence in the build-up that they could make up for their defeat at Anfield earlier this season.

But a stop-start game, hampered by an injury crisis at Everton and a lack of quality shown by Liverpool, made for a dull encounter in which neither side really imposed themselves.

The 9,457 watching at Goodison Park had little to cheer about until Everton's Lucy Hope struck a fierce effort on to the crossbar in the second half and team-mate Justine Vanhaevermaet tested goalkeeper Rachael Laws with a fizzing long-range effort.

We've already had five matches this weekend.

Click the score from each game to go to the match report.

• Manchester City 3-1 Manchester United
• Everton 0-0 Liverpool
• Bristol City 0-1 Tottenham
• Leicester 2-3 Brighton
• West Ham 0-2 Chelsea

Let's have a closer look now at what has happened in today's matches...