‘The margins are so tight’ – Taylor looks ahead to Manchester City’s FA Cup tie at Arsenal

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor is expecting another game of fine margins when his side travel to Meadow Park to face Arsenal this afternoon.

The Barclays Women’s Super League giants have been paired in the fifth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup. The winners will progress to the quarter-finals and will potentially be just 180 minutes of football away from Wembley.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester City boss Taylor highlighted the enormity of the tie.

“It’s a big game, there’s no doubt,” Taylor said. “This tie is like a final tie or semi-final tie but sometimes, they get thrown up earlier.

“It’s a good challenge for us. We’ve been in London recently, played Spurs twice and we will be here again this weekend and next Friday as well against Chelsea.

“These are the games that you want to be involved in.”

Games between Manchester City and Arsenal have so often been decided by a single goal and Taylor says that it is about getting the finer details right on the day.

He said “It’s the fine details. I think in my first season, we played Arsenal three times and we won 2-1, it always seems to be 2-1. We won on those three occasions 2-1, all of the games other than a drubbing that we had there when we were struggling with injuries, they always seem to be 2-1. Back here last season, it was 2-1, the margins are so tight.

“We feel that we have the ability to really open up on teams, particularly with the chances that we create. 

“I expect it to be tight, it’s the FA Cup, it’s a one-off game. It’s a free hit for both teams and both teams want to reach the quarter-finals.”

Manchester City’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Arsenal kicks-off at 12.30pm this afternoon.

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