With the Women’s Super League now at its winter break, SheKicks is compiling midseason report cards for each of the WSL teams and next up is Aston Villa.
How have Aston Villa started the WSL season?
At the halfway stage of the 2025-26 WSL campaign, Aston Villa sit eighth in the standings, with three wins, four draws and four defeats.
Three of those defeats came in their last four games, which will be a concern for Natalia Arroyo heading into 2026.
Just one defeat in their opening seven games appeared to be a good start to the season. Especially given Villa were able to hold Arsenal to a 1-1 draw and beat Manchester United 1-0 on the road.
However, Villa left points on the board against Leicester and Everton. Villa failed to score from 17 shots despite an xG of 2.99 in a goalless draw with Leicester, while Kelly Gago scored a 90th-minute equaliser for Everton in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Villa’s inability to take their chances has hurt them through the first-half of the season.
Against the London City Lionesses, they lost 3-1 despite having more than double the number of shots as their opponents.
Villa finished the first-half of the campaign with their worst performance yet, a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City, with Bunny Shaw setting a club record and also scoring four goals.
Aston Villa’s WSL results
- Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa (07/09/25)
- Aston Villa 1-3 Chelsea (14/09/25)
- Arsenal 1-1 Aston Villa (27/09/25)
- West Ham 0-2 Aston Villa (05/10/25)
- Aston Villa 0-0 Leicester City (12/10/25)
- Aston Villa 3-3 Everton (02/11/25)
- Manchester United 0-1 Aston Villa (08/11/25)
- Aston Villa 1-3 London City Lionesses (16/11/25)
- Tottenham 2-1 Aston Villa (07/12/25)
- Aston Villa 3-0 Liverpool (11/12/25)
- Manchester City 6-1 Aston Villa (13/12/25)
Why Aston Villa have underperformed this season
Aston Villa are a side that is capable of finishing in the top-half of the Women’s Super League table.
That is shown by the WSL calendar year table for 2025, where Aston Villa finished fifth – ahead of a resurgent Tottenham on goals scored.
Villa are fifth in the league in terms of xG (15.9) but have scored the same number of goals as Brighton, Everton and London City Lionesses with 14.
Arroyo’s side, alongside Chelsea, have also kept the most clean sheets in the WSL this season with five.
Part of Aston Villa’s problem is their passing, with only West Ham (75.6) and Leicester City (68) having a lower successful pass rate than Aston Villa’s 77.7%.
Villa are also conceding too many good chances, with the fourth-highest xG conceded in the WSL with 19.7. Only West Ham (21.2), Everton (20.6) and Tottenham (20) have higher xG conceded numbers.
How are Aston Villa’s summer signings performing?
Lucia Kendall has been an excellent signing for Aston Villa, and her performances led to her receiving her first England caps.
However, perhaps the standout signing has been defender Lynn Wilms, who is averaging a 7.33 rating on FotMob this season. She is the highest-rated out of any Aston Villa player and is followed by Kirsty Hanson (7.02) and Kendall (7.01).
Oceane Deslandes has played a regular part this season but has not hit the heights of Kendall or Wilms, and was recently sent off against Tottenham.
Jill Baijings, who returned to the club on a permanent deal after her loan last season, suffered an ACL injury in September and is likely to miss most of the season.
England goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck and Japanese midfielder Maya Hijikata have had limited game time so far this season.
A tough afternoon. pic.twitter.com/xmNDSqf2Ii
— Aston Villa Women (@AVWFCOfficial) December 14, 2025
Performance of Aston Villa head coach
Consistency has been the main issue for Aston Villa, who finished sixth last season and would have placed fifth in a table of all WSL games between January and December in 2025.
Villa are better than the eighth place that they currently occupy, but results just before the winter break will be a cause for concern for Arroyo.
If that form continues into the second-half of the season, Arroyo’s job could come under threat by February or March.
Arroyo did improve Villa in the second-half of last campaign after arriving at the club in January. After winning just two of their opening 17 games last season, Villa managed to win their last five on the bounce.
Aston Villa WSL midseason report grade: C
After their strong end to the 2024-25 campaign, Natalia Arroyo and her squad would have hoped for more from the first half of this campaign.
There were strong results against Arsenal and Manchester United. However, other than the Red Devils, the only sides Villa have been able to beat are struggling West Ham and Liverpool.
It was a rough end to 2025 for Villa, in particular their 6-1 thrashing by Manchester City just before the winter break.
Despite their underwhelming results, Aston Villa are only two points away from the top half, so they have been given a C grade for their WSL report.
This is a lower mark than what Arsenal received in their WSL midseason report.
Villa are just two points below sixth-place London City Lionesses, which is realistically where they should be aiming to finish this season.
They can achieve this if they improve their fortunes in front of the goal. However, if their form from the end of 2025 carries into 2026, Villa could be looking at a 10th-place finish.
