Match report: Aston Villa 0-4 Arsenal Women

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WHAT HAPPENED

We returned to winning ways in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League with a vital 4-0 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday.

We came into this fixture on the back of consecutive league defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea - but this time around, we faced a different kind of challenge and delivered a controlled performance with four goals from four different players.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, though, as Villa proved to be a frustrating outfit throughout the opening 45 minutes, sitting deep and rarely leaving space in behind.

Beth Mead created a half-chance early on, firing wide from 20 yards, before failing to take advantage of a free-kick in a dangerous position.

Vivianne Miedema was then denied twice in quick succession from close range, concluding the first-half’s action.

But we made our dominance count after the restart, upping our intensity and breaking the deadlock through Miedema, who made no mistake in converting Mead’s inviting delivery from the right.

Shortly after, Jordan Nobbs, who returned to our starting XI as captain, doubled our advantage with an instinctive finish, to slot home the rebound after Miedema’s initial effort was kept out.

Katie McCabe then went on to make it three with the pick of the bunch, taking aim from 25 yards and finding the top left corner with an unstoppable strike.

By this stage, we were in cruise control, zipping the ball around Villa’s defence with ease - and with just minutes remaining, we made it four as substitute Lisa Evans climbed high inside the area to head home McCabe’s delivery.