Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor admits that his side are eager for the challenge as they prepare to face Chelsea in the Women’s Super League (WSL) this weekend.

City gear up for their biggest test of the WSL season this weekend as they travel to the capital to face title rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Manchester side will be keen to continue their unbeaten streak after claiming a 2-0 win over Hammarby in the UEFA Women’s Champions League midweek.

The Cityzens sit at the summit of the WSL table, just one-point ahead of their Saturday opponents who still have a game in hand. City will no doubt want to extend that margin out to four points before the Blues take part in their rearranged clash with Manchester United a week on Sunday.

“It’s more than just another game,” said Taylor. “Of course, I think that we have proven so far that we have played some really good stuff this season and obviously gained some good results along the way. I think there’s no denying these games are obviously really important.”

It will be the first time that City face Chelsea under the new management of Sonia Bompastor, an opportunity that Taylor deems “exciting”. The head coach also spoke on the difficulty the ex-Lyon manager may have faced when given the job of living up to the legacy of Emma Hayes.

“Of course it is tough because there’s a change in the card and coaches are coming with different ideas and different ways of wanting to cooperate and potentially each have different aspirations,” explained Taylor. “So of course, I think it’s never easy in that sense. 

“But I also think you pretty much know what you’re coming into. I think coming into a stable environment helps, which was my situation when I came in, and it looks the same for Sonia as well. The brief will be the same as always, and that is to win. So I don’t see any kind of real change in that, and these types of challenges that you get the opportunity to do are obviously really exciting.”

Jill Roord has been electric for Man City over recent weeks, scoring in three consecutive WSL fixtures after her return from her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. 90min asked the City boss what it has been like to work with her, to which he responded: “I can’t really speak highly enough of her, because she’s such a dream to work with.”

“She seems so calm and assured in everything that she does, and other players really gravitate to that. She’s been a real dream to work with. She’s such a top professional, it just really rubs off on all of the players we have.

“What I love about Jill is that you have the conversation, you discuss the plan, whether that’s on pitch or rehab. She’ll ask questions, you know, where do I fit within that? And she just executes it really well. She just nails it.

“What we’re trying to do now is manage her in the right way. So we’re trying not to push her because we want her to be there as much as we can, but we understand that she can’t play every minute of every game as much as we’d like her to.”

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