- LCFC Women face Aston Villa in the Barclays Women’s Super League
- Sunday's fixture at Villa Park has a 2pm BST kick-off
- City were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur last time out
- Willie Kirk’s side are currently one point off safety in the WSL
The Foxes sit 12th in the WSL with seven points, one behind Brighton & Hove Albion. Having fallen to a narrow defeat on the road to Tottenham Hotspur last week, Leicester are aiming to overtake the south coast side in their bid to secure top-flight status.
Ahead of Sunday’s match at Villa Park, the manager talked about the following topics in Friday’s pre-match press conference at Belvoir Drive...
The necessity of points
The Foxes picked up their first draw of the season when they played out a goalless draw with Everton at King Power Stadium a couple of weeks ago. After the loss to out-of-form Spurs, Kirk stated the significance of taking points from Villa Park on Sunday afternoon.
“We know we need to pick up points and we need to pick up points in both of the next two games,” the manager explained. “If we don't, it's not going to be the end of the world. But we're aware that we're in the home stretch now.
“There are seven games to go, and if we don't pick up points in the next two, then suddenly we're down to five games, so you know there is a pressure. But we understand that, we try to put that disappointment from Tottenham into perspective.
“It was only two-and-a-half months ago that we were six points away from safety, and now we're one point away from safety. As cliché as it is, it's about concentrating on the game in front of us and forgetting about all the outside noise, forgetting about season targets and what's happening at other grounds.”
The Villans
Fifth-place Villa, who are unbeaten in their last seven across all competitions, will be a tough opponent for the former Everton coach, who aims to end the week out of the relegation zone.
“They've assembled an exciting, and strong group of players,” the 44-year-old continued. “I don't know about their depth, but they've certainly got a strong starting XI. I know they've carried a few injuries this season, which has maybe not helped them, but they've had a very consistent line-up.
“They've got fantastic strengths, especially going forward, and we will do what we can to nullify those strengths. They've probably got six players from middle to front that all like to attack, so we'll try and turn that into an advantage and catch them out another way.
“I think Villa are a fantastic team with some fantastic individual talents, and we all recognise that. But I still think that out of the top four, on our day, we can compete with the rest of the teams.
“We'll be going to Villa with a plan to first of all, take three points, and if we can't take three, then we'll take one. I don't think there'll be any fear going into the game, but there will certainly be respect for their danger players such as Rachel Daly and Jordan Nobbs.”
Approaching the end of the season
With limited games remaining in the calendar for City, Kirk explains how important it is to utilise every day at Belvoir Drive and aim to take points from every opponent they face.
He added: “I think there's only 64 days left in the season and those days disappear very quickly. Seven games remain, so every training session is treasured, and we need to make every training session count.
“We'd love to take something from every one of them, but it's about facing up to the next one and making sure we come off the bottom of the league as soon as possible, and if it comes down to the last game of the season, so be it. But we would rather get the business done way before that.”