Aston Villa midfielder Staniforth’s season prematurely ended by ankle injury | OneFootball

Aston Villa midfielder Lucy Staniforth has sustained an ankle injury which will see her miss the remainder of the season.

WSL Full-Time were informed of the injury by Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward in a scheduled club press conference this morning.

Staniforth is said to have injured her ankle ahead of Aston Villa’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup group stage match at Sunderland, a game which has since been removed from the record books as a result of The Villans fielding an ineligible player. It has been determined that Staniforth’s injury requires surgery and she will therefore miss the final three months of the campaign.

The injury comes at a difficult time for Aston Villa with the club having seen another midfielder in Laura Blindkilde Brown leave for Manchester City yesterday.

Commenting on Staniforth’s injury, Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward said “Lucy Stan picked up a bizarre [ankle] injury in the warm-up against Sunderland. She’s going to be having surgery on Wednesday and she is going to be out for the rest of the season.

“Lucy Stan and Laura [Blindkilde] Brown have been ever-present in our midfield so it’s a massive hole. Lucy Stan has been excellent but it’s an injury that requires intervention. We will get that done and get her ready back for pre-season.”

Aston Villa continue the season with a Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Bristol City at The Poundland Bescot Stadium on Saturday.