Cushing provides update on City quartet | OneFootball

Nick Cushing says Laia Aleixandri and Yui Hasegawa could be available for City’s UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Chelsea.

However, our Interim Head Coach has confirmed that Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw and Aoba Fujino will miss the encounter at Stamford Bridge, with City currently holding a two-goal aggregate lead.

Both Aleixandri and Hasegawa were substituted late on in Sunday’s Barclays Women’s Super League meeting with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, but the pair were both involved in the latest training session ahead of travelling to London.

Cushing admits Hasegawa’s return is still touch and go after the midfielder left the Etihad on crutches, but he hasn’t ruled out her availability for Thursday’s 20:00 (UK) kick-off.

“After the game there was concern, and it’s not ideal to bring off two key players - we have to find the solutions to that,” Cushing said.

“The plan has to be a little bit better, the group did an amazing job over the three games, you can see the games have been even.

“Two top teams going at each other - having those players back is a testament to them and their commitment but also to the incredible work of the medical team.

“Yui leaving the ground in crutches and I’m not going to jump the gun and say she’ll be ready.

“The group has been incredible the likes of the youngers players to go into these games and be as confident and hungry as they are is only to going to help.”

WATCH: Extended highlights: City 1-2 Chelsea

Shaw and Fujino have been unavailable since featuring in the League Cup final earlier this month, with Cushing previously saying their availability would go ‘down to the wire’.

The duo have both unfortunately run out of time to feature on Thursday, but our Interim Head Coach was full of praise for the efforts of his medical team in ensuring City are in the best possible shape at Stamford Bridge.

“We’re still working through the team,” our Interim Head Coach explained.

“Obviously, you could see after the game on Sunday the sort of squad and strain we had on it, but the medical team are doing an incredible job.

“The likes of Aoba [Fujino] and Bunny [Shaw] won’t make the game. It wasn’t ideal to take off some key players, but we’ve worked hard to make sure the squad are competitive for the game.”

Chelsea v City App Coverage

As always, the official Man City app is the best place to keep across all the action.

Our Matchday Centre, which provides detailed text commentary, stats and analysis, gets under way from 18:30 and continues throughout the evening.

From kick-off, Alistair Mann and a guest co-commentator will then provide live audio commentary from Stamford Bridge.

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Make sure to have push notifications turned on in the app as well to receive immediate alerts when any key moments of action take place such as goals and red cards.

After the final whistle, a detailed match report and reaction from both Cushing and players can be accessed on the app.

Highlights and a CITY+ full-match replay will be available at 23:00 (UK) on Thursday night in the United Kingdom only, before being made available globally the following day.