Manchester City Women manager Gareth Taylor issues instructions from the touchline Aston Villa Women v Manchester City Women, WSL football match, Villa Park, Birmingham, UK - 05 Sep 2020 Photo: Jon Super for The FA

‘There will always be shocks’ says Manchester City boss Taylor ahead of Villa tie

Manchester City have had a very successful history in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup over the last few years having won the last two competitions in 2019 and 2020.

Their journey towards potentially winning the trophy for the third consecutive year begins on Saturday as they welcome Aston Villa to The Academy Stadium. City are favourites going into the match with their opponents currently occupying bottom spot in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table but there are no signs of taking the foot off the pedal from head coach Gareth Taylor.

“We’re playing to win,” Taylor said in his pre-match press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present. “You can’t underestimate these teams, for Villa it’s a free hit.

“The team will be as strong as we possibly can be.”

With so many players returning from international duty there could be some notable absentees going into the fixture. Commenting on the injury situation, Taylor said “Rose (Lavelle) had a slight ankle problem which stopped her from training so we’ll just check in tomorrow and see how she is.

“With Demi (Stokes) and Lucy (Bronze), they’re continuing their build up to maximum minutes but apart from that pretty much everyone is ok.”

While City will still be without captain Steph Houghton for some time, Taylor is buoyed by the return of Gemma Bonner after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

He added “Gemma actually trained today so I think it’s looking good for her she just needs to get training volume under her belt.”

As we enter the business end of the season, City will need to have their best players available if they are to overtake Chelsea and claim the Barclays FA Women’s Super League title for the first time since 2016. With a titanic clash coming up between the top two sides on Wednesday, any points dropped at this stage could be vital. However, Taylor isn’t worrying himself with that fixture just yet.

He said “We focus on the Aston Villa cup game, you can’t prioritise one over the other. You can’t look too far ahead, we’ve never done that, I’ve never done that.

“There’s always shocks. There will always be shocks. That’s the beauty of the FA Cup.”

Aston Villa have lost their last five matches in the league, form which has seen them slip into the relegation zone. Still, they have shown plenty of resilience in that time and Taylor is not naive to the threat that they offer.

“They have some dangerous players,” Taylor said. “They have some intelligent players. We need to make sure we control the tempo of the game, make sure we manage the spaces, they’re going to make it difficult for us.”

Manchester City’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round fixture against Aston Villa kicks-off at midday on Saturday.

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