Aston Villa manager Robert De Pauw says that his side have nothing to lose when they face Arsenal at The Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Villans have endured a difficult start to the season which has seen them pick up one league win so far, however, they have faced most of the top sides on their travels.
When speaking to the media ahead of the match, Aston Villa boss De Pauw highlighted his side’s tough run of fixtures and said that they have nothing to lose this weekend.
“It’s a big club with great names in their team,” De Pauw said when discussing Arsenal. “When we play the top four, we are the underdogs and they’re at home.
“We’ve had Chelsea away, Manchester City away, Manchester United away and now Arsenal away, so factually, these are the most difficult games away from home. We have nothing to lose.”
Aston Villa have been defeated by Chelsea and Manchester City by single-goal margins while they held Manchester United to a goalless draw. De Pauw says that his side are much-improved against the top four this season.
He said “Everybody tells me that previously, in the games against the top teams, we maybe lost these games 3-0 or 4-0 but that’s different this season. It would be nice to win but I think Arsenal are a very good team with the qualities that they have. For sure, we have confidence in ourselves and we have shown that we can perform to a high level. Let’s try and take the next step in this game, give our all and give Arsenal a big challenge.”
After starting the season with seven games without a win, Aston Villa finally picked up a victory as they defeated Crystal Palace 3-2 in their latest league match. De Pauw said that getting the first maximum-point return of the season was a big relief.
He said “We were waiting for the win for a long time, so it’s good to finally have that. You always want to give back to the fans and everyone in and around the club and I think we did that.
“It wasn’t ideal conceding in the 87th minute and scoring the winning goal in added time but it was a big relief for everybody.”
Aston Villa’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Arsenal kicks-off at 2pm on Sunday afternoon.
