Aston Villa Women will keep faith with Natalia Arroyo despite a difficult season that has seen the club sit ninth in the WSL with three games remaining.

Women’s football expert Megan Feringa of The Athletic insists Arroyo is the right person to lead Villa forward, with more investment coming in the summer to strengthen a squad that has punched above its weight in several departments this term.

Villa’s current standing represents a step backwards from their sixth place finish last season, though the table remains extremely tight. The Villans sit just one point behind Brighton in sixth and 11 points clear of the relegation zone, meaning the final three fixtures against Arsenal, West Ham and London City could yet define how the season is remembered entirely.

Hanson Carrying Villa Almost Single Handedly

Kirsty Hanson has been extraordinary this season and deserves enormous credit for keeping Villa competitive throughout. The Scottish forward has scored 12 WSL goals, making her the second highest scorer in the division behind Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw, while her conversion rate of 21.4 per cent ranks second among players with more than 20 shots.

Hanson is genuinely propelling Villa beyond what most people expected from them this campaign.
Feringa was blunt about the broader picture, stating Villa are a team in transition still working out where they belong in the WSL ecosystem, similar to Tottenham and Brighton around them in the table.

Villa to Feature in World Sevens London Tournament

Villa have confirmed their participation in the inaugural World Sevens Football London edition at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium between May 28 and 30. Eight WSL clubs will compete in the tournament, which carries a £1.16 million prize pool across 30 minute matches on a reduced natural grass pitch with rolling substitutes.

Manchester United are among the other confirmed participants ahead of what promises to be a genuinely exciting end of season showcase for the women’s game.

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Arsenal Women’s trip to Villa Park has been moved to Saturday May 9 with a noon kick off after the Gunners secured their place in the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi finals.

The fixture will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, giving fans plenty of opportunity to watch what promises to be a fascinating encounter between two sides with very different objectives for the remainder of the season.

Arsenal are offering subsidised coach travel for supporters making the journey to Birmingham, with full ticket and travel information available through the club’s official website. This is a smart touch from the Gunners, who clearly want a strong away following at Villa Park for what could be a significant fixture in their WSL title push.

Champions League Success Disrupts Domestic Schedule

Arsenal’s progression through the Women’s Champions League continues to create scheduling headaches for the WSL, though these are the problems every ambitious club wants to have. Defending European champions are naturally expected to go deep into these competitions, and the fixture calendar inevitably suffers as a result.

The Gunners have been forced to reschedule multiple domestic fixtures this season due to their continental commitments, placing considerable demands on Renee Slegers’ squad during the business end of the campaign. Managing that workload while competing on two fronts remains the ultimate test of squad depth.

Villa Desperate for Points in Tight WSL Midtable Battle

The rescheduled date carries huge significance for Aston Villa, who currently sit ninth with three matches remaining and desperately need points to finish the season strongly.

Villa are just one point behind Brighton in sixth, meaning this Arsenal fixture on May 9 could prove absolutely decisive in determining where Natalia Arroyo’s side finish their transitional campaign. Arsenal will be formidable opponents regardless of where their own title ambitions stand by then.

Also read: Arsenal Women Goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger Steps Up Recovery From Long Term Injury as Austrian International Returns to Training Pitch Six Months After ACL Surgery

Aston Villa’s accounts for the year ended June 30, 2025, published on Companies House, reveal the club booked a combined £113.6 million profit from selling their women’s team and The Warehouse operating rights to NSWE, the holding company of billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens.

The £77.6 million profit came from the disposal of Aston Villa Women’s Football Club Limited, with a further £36 million generated from The Warehouse sale.

Both transactions are subject to the Premier League’s associated party transaction rules, meaning the governing body must still determine whether the valuations reflect genuine fair market value. The club could be forced to adjust the figures if the Premier League concludes otherwise.

Selling your own women’s team to your own holding company and calling it a profit is a creative accounting exercise that makes an absolute mockery of financial regulation.

PSR Loophole Saves Aston Villa From Player Fire Sales

Villa explicitly stated both businesses were repositioned within the wider group structure to facilitate external investment without requiring investors to put money directly into the men’s football team.

Chelsea used the identical trick previously, and from the 2026/27 season, Premier League clubs will be banned from selling assets such as hotels and women’s teams to themselves to circumvent financial rules, with Squad Cost Ratio replacing PSR next term. The timing was everything for Villa, who got this deal over the line just in time.

Warehouse Project Still Awaiting Green Light

Despite the profit booked on The Warehouse disposal, the venue development continues awaiting full planning approval. Ownership of Aston Villa Women now sits at 90 per cent with NSWE and 10 per cent with a US-based company, whose involvement was crucial in justifying the overall valuation to the Premier League.

The women’s team continues operating within the same group structure regardless. Nothing fundamentally changed except the accounting treatment, which tells you everything about what PSR was really designed to achieve.

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