Arsenal rounded off a difficult week by comfortably beating Aston Villa to seal a place in the 2026-27 Women’s Champions League.
The Gunners were knocked out of this year’s competition by Lyon in last Saturday’s semi-final second leg and had their Women’s Super League title aspirations ended by a draw at Brighton on Wednesday.
That result against the Seagulls ensured Manchester City were crowned champions for the first time in a decade.
However, Arsenal duly bounced back at Villa Park as two goals from Alessia Russo and another from Frida Maanum ensured fourth-placed Manchester United can no longer catch them for a place in Europe next season.
Now a point behind second-placed Chelsea with a game in hand, the Gunners are still in a strong position to finish runners-up and secure automatic progression to the group stages of the Women’s Champions League rather than having to navigate qualifying.
An eighth defeat in 11 WSL games this calendar year left Villa in ninth spot before next Saturday’s final fixture of the season at London City Lionesses.
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