‘We’ve got to earn the right to retain our trophy’ – Manchester City boss Taylor previews Arsenal | OneFootball

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor is fully aware of how difficult his side’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup semi-final tie against Arsenal will be and says that The Cityzens will have to earn the right to retain their trophy.

The two sides meet at the LV Bet Stadium in Boreham Wood on Wednesday evening. Manchester City are the current FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup holders after beating Chelsea 3-1 in last season’s final at AFC Wimbledon’s Cherry Red Records Stadium.

Manchester City face a real test against Arsenal in their semi-final tie and head coach Taylor knows that his side will have to work extremely hard for the right to play in the final and have an opportunity to defend their trophy.

“We are going to have to work tremendously hard to get there (to the final),” Taylor said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “It’d be nice if they moved the Conti Cup final to somewhere in the middle of the country; the last three have been Watford, Wimbledon and Crystal Palace.

“We’ve got to get there, we’ve got to earn the right to be there and we’ve got to earn the right to retain our trophy. We know how hard that is and how difficult that’s going to be. We will potentially have good moments and moments where we will have to suffer but that is the enjoyable part and something that we need to look forward to.”

Arsenal go into the tie off the back of a hugely frustrating goalless draw with West Ham United on Sunday. Taylor doesn’t know whether his side will face a backlash from The Gunners.

He said “Sometimes, you get a reaction if they’ve had a negative result but it is hard to say. We just look at the opponent and see where they are strong and identify areas that we could potentially exploit.

“For us, nothing really changes based on what has happened to them previously.”

Manchester City’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup semi-final tie at Arsenal kicks-off at 7.15pm on Wednesday evening.