Arsenal Women v Aston Villa Women

Thursday, January 26 

Kick off 745pm (FA Player)

Continental Tyres League Cup

Meadow Park

Will Arsenal fans ever get used to seeing Jordan Nobbs in another team’s colours after 12 years with the club? Tonight sees Nobbs return to Meadow Park as an Aston Villa player for a Conti Cup quarter final that survived a pitch inspection earlier this afternoon.

A presentation honouring Nobbs will take place in the lead up to kick off, before Villa take on an Arsenal side that has won the League Cup a record five times. Only Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have won the competition since it was formed in 2011, so underdog stories can be hard to come across, but Villa are nicely poised to try and spring a surprise over Jonas Eidevall’s team.

After a summer transfer window that saw the likes of England star Rachel Daly, PSG’s Kenza Dali and Lucy Staniforth join the club, Villa added Kirsty Hanson on loan from Manchester United and most recently Jordan Nobbs to a flourishing attacking outfit that isn’t afraid to go toe to toe with the top WSL sides.

Aston Villa sit in a very healthy 6th place in the WSL table and progressed to the quarter-finals of the Conti Cup as Group A winners, finishing one point ahead of Manchester United. Arsenal were given a bye to this stage of the competition because of their involvement in the Champions League. The Gunners are expected to field a strong side at Meadow Park tonight ahead of their FA Cup tie on Sunday against fourth tier Leeds United (Villa face third tier AFC Fylde), with Jonas Eidevall still on the hunt for his first trophy in charge of Arsenal.

One player who is expected to make her debut is Canadian goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo, who signed from Swedish side Vittsjo GIK in January. D’Angelo will provide tough competition for Manu Zinsberger in the Arsenal goal, with Kaylan Marckese also still very much in contention, perhaps for Sunday’s tie.

The Gunners will be well rested after their WSL game against Brighton was postponed due to a frozen pitch at Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium on Sunday. Arsenal’s Lotte Wubben-Moy made sure that fans could at least enjoy the mens’ 3-2 win over Manchester United, putting money behind the bar at the New Moon Pub in Crawley in a fantastic gesture to the club’s supporters.