Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that Liverpool will provide his side with a real test when the two clubs meet at Prenton Park on Wednesday evening.
The two sides will contest a crucial group stage match in the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup. Both sides have collected maximum points from their group fixtures so far; Manchester City trail Liverpool by three points but have a game-in-hand on The Reds.
With both teams having been so dominant in the group stage, the winners of this week’s fixture are likely to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. Manchester City will go into the match as favourites but head coach Taylor believes that Liverpool will be a real threat.
“They’re top of the group and have played a game more so it looks like this game is going to be the decider for who will definitely go through,” Taylor said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “At the moment, both clubs are accumulating points and there’s a strong case for that best runners-up spot but it’s about getting through to the next round.
“We obviously know a lot about them because we’ve seen them play against the other teams (in the group). They probably haven’t beaten those teams as convincingly as we have but they are a difficult opponent for sure and we saw that when we played them in the league recently.”
All the talk around Manchester this week has been about the upcoming Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, however, Taylor says that his team are only focused on the next game.
He said “We need to make sure that the players understand that we need to control the controllables and the next thing that we can control is the preparation for Wednesday night. Once Wednesday is done, everyone’s attention is going to switch (to the Manchester derby).
“The girls are pretty good in that respect, nobody is getting carried away with the derby or potential games to come further down the line. They are pretty down to earth and are focusing on the next game.”
Manchester City’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup fixture at Liverpool kicks-off at 7pm on Wednesday evening.
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