WSL 2022/23: How Chelsea exploited Aston Villa’s defensive issues – tactical analysis

Chelsea Women hosted Aston Villa Women at Kingsmeadow last Sunday for the sixth fixture of FAWSL and the result was a 3-1 win for the Blues who are now at the top of the standings alongside Manchester United and Arsenal. Yet, both teams are still to play a game and therefore Chelsea risks being third with three points of difference compared to the first.

On the other hand, Aston Villa couldn’t keep their good run of form going and were obliged to drop points at Kingsmeadow despite scoring one goal. As a result, the team is actually holding the eighth spot with 6 points won against Leicester City and Manchester City. However, the team lost three games following those two wins and these losses were against West Ham, Everton and lately Chelsea. Aston Villa will have to spot their mistakes and what didn’t go well for them in these last few matches and aim at addressing these issues in order to get back to their winning ways against Liverpool and then against Reading.

In this tactical analysis article, we will therefore focus on Chelsea’s strengths, attacking tactics and how they were able to explore their opponent’s defensive weaknesses while exploring what Aston Villa failed to do in this match. The analysis will contain two parts plus the lineups section.

Lineups

Head coach Emma Hayes started this match using the 4-4-2 formation with Ann-Katrin Berger as a goalkeeper, Ève Périsset, Millie Bright, Kadeisha Buchanan and Magdalena Eriksson in defence, Sophie Ingle and Erin Cuthbert as central midfielders, Guro Reiten and former Manchester United’s Lauren James as wingers, while both Pernille Harder and Sam Kerr represented the team’s attacking duo.

Aston Villa’s head coach, Carla Ward, started this match according to the 4-1-4-1 formation with Anna Leat as a goalkeeper, Sarah Mayling, Anna Patten, Danielle Turner and Mayumi Pacheco in defence, Rachel Corsie just in front of the defensive line, Kenza Dali and Laura Madison Blindkilde Brown as central midfielders, Kirsty Hanson and Alisha Lehmann as wingers while Rachel Daly was the team’s striker.

Chelsea’s attacking performance

Chelsea started the match with the intention and determination to score as soon as possible and make their mission less complicated. They were successful in alternating their attacks between advancing through the right wing where James and Cuthbert did great work with the ball and on the left wing where Reiten was very dangerous as she was also accompanied by Harder who often dropped to receive the ball in midfield.

Hard