Anna Patten exclusive: Aston Villa Women not in panic mode after winless start to Women's Super League season

Plus: Why Anna Patten and her team-mates are encouraging goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar to shout at them; The centre-back's improvement since joining Aston Villa;Watch Aston Villa vs Chelsea live on Sky Sports Premier League from 12pm on Saturday; kick-off 12.30pm

Senior football journalist

Wednesday 1 November 2023 09:24, UK

Centre-back Anna Patten cuts a calm and friendly figure as we chat all things Aston Villa Women, clearly enjoying life at the club after her permanent signing from Arsenal Women this summer.

It is perhaps reflective of how the team are feeling, despite a rocky start to the WSL season. It has come as a shock to some that Aston Villa are yet to register a point after four games.

But there have been mitigating factors, including matches against two of last season's top three in Manchester United and Arsenal, where Carla Ward's side were mere minutes away from picking up points. It does not get any easier too as they face champions Chelsea on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.

But while there have been disappointing moments, Patten says the team are not yet hitting the panic button and are learning from their current predicament.

«It's really tough,» she exclusively told Sky Sports. «However, we're a tight knit group. Two of those games have been tough opposition and we have been close with everyone.

»I think Tottenham was one of the games where we were disappointed, but the two against the top teams, we were close to winning or drawing those games and that's probably what was actually most frustrating about it.

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«But there's not panic in the camp or anything like that. We really want to push on now in November, we've got a lot of games and we