NewsRachael Laws on 100 Liverpool appearances, Aston Villa and WSL strength

The No.1 achieved the milestone during the 1-0 Adobe Women's FA Cup quarter-final victory over Arsenal earlier this month.

Laws is in her second spell with the Reds, having spent time on loan on Merseyside in 2013 when the team lifted the Barclays Women's Super League title.

She returned in 2020 on a permanent basis and helped earn promotion back to the top flight from the Championship before playing a key role between the posts in re-establishing the club in the WSL.

• Get your tickets for LFC Women v Aston Villa here

"It was a proud moment for me, my friends and my family," Laws told Liverpoolfc.com about hitting three figures.

"The amount of messages I got from people I had played with first time around when I was here back in 2013, which seems like a lifetime ago. We won the WSL then and they were amazing memories, and I've made more memories this time around.

"I've been here nearly five years now. It feels like home. It is my second home. I've bought a house here and I class these as my family. Amazing memories and to do it away to Arsenal in a quarter-final of the FA Cup – the biggest cup competition in women's football. To do it with this group is really special and it's one that will live long in my memory."

Liverpool are preparing for a meeting with Aston Villa on Sunday in a 2pm BST kick-off at St Helens Stadium.

Read on for the rest of the interview with Laws on the contest and more…

On the reverse victory over Aston Villa...

I remember the first half, we were quite comfortable in possession. We had quite a lot of chances. We knew coming out at 2-0, it was going to be a really hard game of football. We knew Villa were going to step on and really press us. We got quite an early goal. It put us on the back foot a little bit and we did feel a bit under pressure. We were overall winners but it was a very tough game.

On facing former teammates Miri Taylor and Missy Bo Kearns...

I probably won't talk to them just before. I still do keep in contact with both. It's not often but when we do it's always a good 45 minutes or an hour on FaceTime. You know what Bo is like. I miss Bo. She's a really good character and a good person. When I do keep in touch with her, there's always a funny story. But come Sunday on the pitch, we're rivals, we're not friends.

On the strength of the WSL this season...

The league is getting stronger every single year. You see that with investments in squads and the type of player that teams are bringing in. You've got the likes of Chelsea who have a 22- or 23-player squad and any of them could probably play in any other team in the WSL. It's absolutely frightening. Last season we had a very, very good season. We're a little bit shy of it this season. Our start wasn't as good but we've picked up points, performances and results. Hopefully we finish on a bit of a high and we can finish as high as we can this year.