It may be only the fourth round of fixtures in the Barclays Women's Super League, but Manchester City ’s title charge is in danger of being shelved before it has even begun.
Despite trouncing bottom-club Leicester 4-0 last Sunday, City boss Gareth Taylor is under pressure to take maximum points from their clash in the capital with Tottenham, the first of six intriguing WSL match-ups this weekend.
After falling to defeat against champions Chelsea two weeks ago, Taylor admitted four defeats are the most a title-chasing team could feasibly allow. And if last year’s third-place finishers suffer a reverse at the hands of a resurgent Spurs side, it will be three from their opening four matches.
City haemorrhaged a raft of experienced stars over the summer, including Real Madrid ’s Caroline Weir who haunted her former side by scoring the decisive goal to knock them out of Champions League qualifying. In the final year of his contract, ex-City forward Taylor played down the pressure on his side going into the clash.
“They’re all must-win when you’ve only got 22 games. Everyone’s capable of beating each other on their day,” said Taylor. “I’ve always said that if we lose a few games that makes the job of winning the title really, really difficult. For us, must-win is probably a bit too extreme. I think it’ll obviously be important not to lose the game.”
Taylor is rightly cautious about Tottenham, who sit three points above the visitors on six points and inflicted an early season 2-1 defeat at the Academy Stadium in 2021.
“Tottenham have always provided a tough proposition for us,” said Taylor. “The games in previous seasons whether in cup competitions or the league have been fairly tight.
“We’ve pretty much come out on the right side of the result every time. I think it’s a good game for us. I’m looking forward to the game and looking forward to us producing similar levels of performance to what we did last Sunday.”
A rampant Arsenal side is one of the biggest reasons there is little room for error, while Manchester United seem equally invulnerable so far this season. On Saturday Jonas Eidevall and his team visit Anfield for the first time in the league since before the pandemic and are heavy favourites to teach WSL newcomers Liverpool a lesson.
This is in part due to Wednesday’s 5-1 thrashing of Champions League winners Lyon at the Stade des Lumières, which sent out an unequivocal message to the rest of the WSL and indeed Europe.
Following the game on Merseyside, Manchester United will be desperate to match the Gunners’ perfect start to the season away to Leicester, with England’s Ella Toone at her effervescent best in a 4-0 demolition of Brighton last weekend.
And rounding off the action on Sunday, Brighton host Chelsea, who will be without talismanic manager Emma Hayes as she recovers from a hysterectomy. After a shock defeat to Liverpool on the opening weekend, reigning champions Chelsea have recorded three straight wins, including a 2-0 crunch victory over City.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2-1 reverse at the hands of West Ham who host a Reading team still looking to pick up their first points of the campaign. Villa’s opponents on Saturday are fifth-place Everton, with both sides locked on six points and hoping to keep touch with the breakaway top three.
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