Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that his side have to aim for maximum points between now and the end of the season if they are to become Barclays Women’s Super League champions.
The Cityzens are out of both domestic cup competitions and now only have the league title to aim for if they are to end the campaign with some silverware.
Manchester City welcome reigning Barclays Women’s Super League champions Chelsea to The Academy Stadium this afternoon. The Blues are arguably the ones to beat once again this season. Emma Hayes’ side have a two-point advantage on Manchester City, as well as a game-in-hand.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester City boss Taylor admitted that this afternoon’s fixture is one of a ‘must-win’ nature.
“We know the importance of the game, we’ve worked so hard to get ourselves into this position,” Taylor said. “We know it is a tough opponent, an opponent that has had a successful result away against the European champions in midweek, so we understand the challenge that is in front of us.
“We are confident in what we do, confident of what we can do in terms of imposing ourselves in the game, but we also know that it is important for us to take maximum points.
“We always go out to win games, nothing changes in that respect, but we know it is a really important one for us to win to be able to continue in our challenge this season.”
Manchester City have seven games to leapfrog the sides above them in the Barclays Women’s Super League table and Taylor went on to say that the emphasis has to be on taking maximum points.
He said “We want 21 points, we have to win every game, I believe that we have to win every game. If we get 21 points, that leaves us on 56 which is what Chelsea won the league with last season. Chelsea can go to 61 if they win all of their games.
“If we win this game, nothing changes; we’ve got to win the one after that and so on. The margins are so tight; we’ve lost two games this season, two draws, Arsenal have done that, Manchester United have done that, Chelsea are the only ones that have dropped five points. It is so tight, so you have got to be really on it and win all of your games, it is as simple as that.”
Manchester City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Chelsea kicks-off at 12.40pm this afternoon.