Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward says that the club are taking the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup seriously and that tonight’s quarter-final tie against Arsenal at the LV Bet Stadium provides them with a good opportunity to progress.
The Villans are enjoying their most successful season yet as an elite football club and they are very much still in the hunt for a first major domestic cup final appearance.
Aston Villa face a very tough quarter-final tie against a star-studded Arsenal side in Boreham Wood this evening but head coach Ward sees the challenge as a great opportunity for her blossoming side.
“We want to take every game and every cup competition seriously this season,” Ward said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “I think we probably made a bit of a mistake last season not taking it (the Conti Cup) seriously and I think it’s an opportunity to progress. It’s an opportunity for more games but we’d love to get to a cup final and that might be something that we target over the next few years.
“It’s really important that we try and have a winning mentality that no matter who we play or what competition it is, we try and win football matches. We’ll continue to do that and the mentality and the messages are very clear and very strong; we’re going there to try and win the game.”
Opponents Arsenal are the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup’s most successful club with five trophy wins. Ward believes that the latest Arsenal side is the strongest of the modern era so far.
She said “Yes, I do (think it’s the strongest Arsenal team). I think they are an exceptional side, they have quality all over the pitch; they’ve got leaders, they’ve got winners. We know that this is going to be a tough ask but we can take a lot of heart and confidence from the performance before Christmas, we had a lot of the ball and played some good stuff against them.
“Make no bones about it, they are an exceptional side but we are in good form, confident and we are in a position where we are also a good side. We have to back ourselves, we have to go and try and play the game of football, it is 11 v 11 and we will certainly try and go and win the game. We will go there with the intent to win the game, not just sitting back and playing our part.”
Aston Villa’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup fixture against Arsenal at the LV Bet Stadium kicks-off at 7.45pm.