Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor has insisted his side must "earn the right" to retain their Continental Cup title ahead of their semi-final clash with Arsenal.
City, who are currently on a 16-game unbeaten run in all competitions, scored six without reply against Championship side Bristol City in the last round but will face a much sterner test when they travel to Meadow Park on Wednesday night. Arsenal beat Aston Villa 3-0 to claim their place in the semi-finals, although the Gunners were held to a goalless draw in their WSL meeting with West Ham last time out.
Should City triumph over Jonas Eidevall's side, they would move one step closer to clinching the club's fifth-ever Conti Cup title, having beaten Chelsea to notch their fourth win last season. But Taylor believes his players will have to put in the hard yards if they want to reach March's final at Selhurst Park.
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“I’d love to go back there," the City boss said ahead of Wednesday's game, "but we have to work tremendously hard to get there. We have to get there and earn the right to be there and retain our trophy.
“We know how hard that is and that we’ll have good moments and moments where we potentially suffer. That’s the enjoyable part and something we need to look forward to. We’ve gone on this really good run and I think it's really impressive even when you think about the change in the summer.
"We had a lot of new players coming in, it took a small period to adapt and we struggled a little bit at first without a proper pre-season but now the team’s playing to really high levels. 16 unbeaten is outstanding, and to think about with only two draws in that too, the players deserve a lot of credit for that.”
Taylor also offered a positive update on defender Alanna Kennedy, who didn't feature in the squad for Saturday’s 2-0 WSL win over Leicester due to injury.
“I think everyone’s looking really good, we’ve gained an extra day in preparation (compared to Arsenal) but obviously we have to make the long journey down (to London).
“We’ve got a couple of players checking late on, we lost Demi (Stokes) at the weekend quite late on and Esme’s (Morgan) not been available as well. Alanna we decided to leave in the north due to a slight issue but she trained fine today.
“It’s a good time for us, availability is pretty good while also allowing a few players to go out on loan. The options are good, but they can change within 24 or 48 hours.”
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