Carla Ward: Hannah Hampton Aston Villa omission 'in best interests of team'

Carla Ward has explained that she did not include Hannah Hampton in the Aston Villa squad that travelled to Chelsea on Sunday due to an unspecified incident that occurred on Saturday.

The Villa boss described Hampton's omission from the squad as 'in the best interests of the team'.

The goalkeeper has been Aston Villa's number one since joining the club from Birmingham - where she had previously played under Ward - in the summer of 2021.

Hampton started Villa's opening two matches of the 2022/23 WSL campaign, before being sidelined through injury. Summer signing Anna Leat has impressed between the sticks for Villa during Hampton's absence.

The England international was fit to return against Chelsea on Sunday, but was not named in the Villa squad, with Leat again starting in goal and youngster Anna Draper named on the bench. Villa only named five substitutes - a maximum of nine can be included in the WSL.

Hampton instead attended the game as a fan - posting 'let's go team #utv' on her Instagram story.

"Hannah was available, something happened yesterday and we decided yesterday it was in the best interests of the team and the squad for her to stay at home so I did exactly that," Ward said.

"I don't really want to say [anymore] on the matter. I made the decision in the best interests of the team to leave her at home, I left her at home and would probably prefer to talk about the 11 that were here.

Ward stated in Friday's pre-match press conference that Hampton was available and in contention once more, but her starting spot was not guaranteed due to the performances of Leat.

"Anna Leat has done exceptionally well, she's been absolutely outstanding so there's a lot of talk - 'is Hannah back, is Hannah back?' - I think is highly disrespectful to the quality of Anna Leat and how well she has played.

"Now what we do have is two exceptional keepers, two keepers that are pushing each other every day and two keepers we know we can rely on, and it's a good position to be in. Of course they'll have to fight it out and like I said Anna Leat's had a very good start to the season."