Manchester City fully-focused on West Ham United fixture says Taylor | OneFootball

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that his side’s full focus will be on West Ham United when they face the East Londoners at The Joie Stadium this afternoon.

The Cityzens have a huge UEFA Women’s Champions League fixture against reigning champions FC Barcelona in midweek but they must first ensure that there are no slip ups against West Ham United in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester City boss Taylor insisted that his side will only be focused on performing well against The Hammers.

“Going into a Champions League week is very exciting for us,” Taylor said. “The first group game is against a good opponent in Barcelona at The Joie Stadium.

“Our full focus [this weekend] is on West Ham and making sure we do all of the right things.”

Manchester City defeated West Ham United 5-0 in the same fixture last season but the Barclays Women’s Super League is getting more competitive year-on-year and Taylor is taking nothing for granted this afternoon.

He said “The concerns [in this league] are that you can have an off-day, particularly in-front of goal, like more recently in terms of Brighton last season. I don’t think it’s right that you lose a game in a season and it should cost you the WSL title. Everything points to the opposite of that with the excitement that we had last season, the margins are so tight and the room for error is so little.

“West Ham got themselves back into the game against Liverpool last week; it wasn’t going their way and they managed to get a point there which will be positive for them against a good Liverpool team. We’re under no illusions that the team we go up against will be difficult to play against, they proved that even though the scoreline wasn’t what they wanted against Manchester United; their performance was okay in moments and they had opportunities. We need to be mindful of that and make sure we focus on what we do really well.”

With Manchester City set to begin their European adventure in midweek, the club were pleased to welcome Jill Roord back last weekend. The player had been sidelined for a lengthy period with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury. Taylor believes that the midfielder’s condition is the best since she joined the club in summer 2023.

He said “There were times over pre-season where she was literally working in isolation but her brief was always when she drops back into team training and when she’s ready for games, that’s it. That’s not a green light for us to play her in back-to-back 90 minutes, we need to do it in the right way and build her load appropriately.

“In terms of being fit and strong, she’s better than I’ve ever seen her. I think the work she’s put in is testament to her and the medical staff for getting her ready to be available in this important period for us. The recovery is really important, the girls need to look after themselves between games. Sometimes, the period between WSL games, Champions League games and then back to a WSL game can be really tight, so we’re trying to give them as much support as we can in this space.”

Manchester City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against West Ham United kicks-off at 1pm. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.