Manchester City will be hoping to edge closer to a third consecutive Vitality Women’s FA Cup when they welcome Leicester City to The Academy Stadium for a quarter-final tie on Wednesday evening.
The Cityzens have lifted the trophy in 2019 and 2020 but Gareth Taylor’s side arguably face their biggest test to date against a Leicester City side who are still adapting to life as a Barclays FA Women’s Super League outfit.
The reason for Manchester City’s difficult challenge is largely down to injuries and player unavailability with as many as 11 first team members absent. Seven of the eight players who missed the 5-0 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday will again be sidelined with only Keira Walsh potentially coming into contention for some minutes. Demi Stokes and Lauren Hemp are now additional possible absentees with the pair struggling with knocks while Alanna Kennedy and Ruby Mace are cup-tied.
Leicester City boss Jonathan Morgan could make some changes to his side following Sunday’s 4-0 defeat at West Ham United. There will be one enforced change for Morgan with summer signing Abbie McManus cup-tied while Georgia Brougham and Abbi Grant are also unable to play. Esmee de Graaf, Jemma Purfield, Sophie Howard and Charlie Devlin are amongst those players who will be hoping for recalls.
The Vitality Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie between Manchester City and Leicester City kicks-off at 7pm on Wednesday evening.