Manchester City ready for ‘a really good challenge’ at Arsenal says head coach Taylor | OneFootball

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that he is looking forward to the challenge posed by Barclays FA Women’s Super League title rivals Arsenal at Meadow Park this evening.

The Cityzens travel to Boreham Wood without as many as nine first team players but head coach Taylor believes that the opportunity is one to relish rather than one to dread.

Manchester City recorded a trio of wins over The Gunners last season and when speaking in his pre-match press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present, Taylor said that he is taking those positives into the latest challenge this weekend.

“They have won both games this season, they’ve got a new manager but they have managed to retain quite a few of their players from the previous season so there has not been too much surgery or much disruption in the summer apart from a new coach coming in with new ideas,” Taylor said.

“It is a tough game for us but a good game for us to have. When we played Arsenal last season, we were successful in the three occasions that we played them both in terms of the result and the way that we performed, that’s the encouraging part for us. We are a little bit light in certain areas of the pitch in terms of availability of players but I see it as a really good challenge for us.”

With nine players potentially set to miss out this evening, Taylor went on to discuss the physical and mental strain put on players as a result of summer tournaments combined with a hectic domestic schedule. He believes that additional consideration should be taken to protect player welfare.

He said “The Olympics was obviously pushed back due to COVID-19 last year and we have now got the EUROs this year. You have just got to look at where these players are going to get some downtime, especially the with the speed of the game and how physical it is becoming, there are high demands on players.

“Unfortunately, we are in a moment where we are seeing those players breaking down and that’s not what you want, you want the very best players to have the very best ability to be able to play in these tournaments.

“From our point of view, we think that it is something that needs to be considered. I understand that there will be other governing bodies who really want to push this thing but first and foremost, player welfare has to be at the forefront of people’s minds.”

The Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture between Arsenal and Manchester City is scheduled to kick-off at 6.45pm and will be screened live on Sky Sports Football.