‘We have a really good chance’ – Taylor previews Manchester City’s semi-final tie at Arsenal | OneFootball

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that this evening’s Subway Women’s League Cup semi-final tie against Arsenal presents his side with an excellent opportunity to reach a cup final.

The Cityzens travel to the Mangata Pay UK Stadium to face The Gunners four days after they were defeated 4-3 by the same opponents at The Joie Stadium in a Barclays Women’s Super League fixture.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester City boss Taylor said that his side have a tough route to the Subway Women’s League Cup final but this evening’s tie at Arsenal presents a great opportunity to advance.

“Every game is a game we want to win,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s WSL, FA Cup, Champions League or the League Cup, nothing changes in our mindset. It doesn’t make this game even bigger.

“We’ve lost in both semi-finals in the last two years; last year to Chelsea and the year before that to Arsenal. We have another opportunity to make a final.

“We know we have a tough route, we’ve had to beat Manchester United, we have to beat Arsenal and will have to beat Chelsea. It’s a tough competition to win but we have a really good chance to be in the final and we have to do the job.”

Reflecting on the previous game against Arsenal at the weekend, Taylor highlighted the need for more defensive resilience after giving away some soft goals.

He said “It’s a tough game for us, we know the level that they produce. We scored three goals at the weekend and it wasn’t enough. We know we can score goals but our issue at the moment is keeping them out at the other end, so we need to be really tight with that. If we can do that and fire at the top end, we give ourselves a good opportunity.”

Manchester City have been defeated by both Arsenal and Manchester United in recent weeks and Taylor discussed the fine margins in games against the top sides.

He said “We are playing against teams in the top-four, so these games aren’t easy.

“Of course, we don’t help ourselves when we make some fundamental errors. In both games [against Manchester United and Arsenal], we haven’t made the best of starts but the personality, character and fightback in both of those games has been top.

“It’s fine margins. When we came away from the game on Sunday, we were thinking it’s real fine margins, particularly when you look at the overall stats, it was a very even game. We’ve come out of it on the wrong side of the result but in a game where we could do better with and without the ball, still, there wasn’t too much in it.”

Manchester City’s Subway Women’s League Cup semi-final tie at Arsenal kicks-off at 7pm this evening.