Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward says that it would be an upset if her side could beat Manchester City this evening and reach the semi-finals of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup.
The Villans have impressed continuously this season but they come up against the three-time winners of the competition in their quarter-final tie at The Poundland Bescot Stadium this evening.
Aston Villa have taken four points from league fixtures against Manchester City this season but Ward still sees her side as underdogs ahead of the two clubs’ latest meeting.
“It shows that we can compete and I think that is really important,” Ward said when speaking about her side’s results against Manchester City this season. “We will be looking to hopefully cause an upset; it would be an upset, make no bones about it, we’ve taken four points but it would be an upset.
“You’ve got the top four then you’ve got the rest of us and that’s the reality of where we are right now. There’s no dressing it up, that’s how it is. We are the underdogs but we’ve taken four points off them and we have to take heart from that.”
Aston Villa go into the tie unbeaten in six matches in all competitions but Ward knows that her side will have to put in a top performance to have a chance of going through.
She said “We would love to get to a semi-final because anything can happen then and you obviously start dreaming of Wembley. It’s an upset if we win it but we want to win football matches.
“The good thing is that we are on a run at the minute, we are playing well and we are grinding out results. Even when we haven’t played well, we have managed to get over the line. The experience in the team is helping that and it certainly helps mentality. We have to be at our very best on and off the ball to win this game.”
Aston Villa’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie against Manchester City kicks-off at 6pm. Cashless turnstiles will be in operation at The Poundland Bescot Stadium.