Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor is expecting a challenging encounter when his side take on Liverpool in the Continental League Cup on Wednesday night.
The Reds will welcome City to Prenton Park for their final group stage game in the competiton, where a win will see Matt Beard's side top the group and secure their place in January's quarter-finals. Liverpool have a flawless record in the Conti Cup so far this season, having beaten Sunderland, Leicester and Blackburn Rovers without conceding a single goal.
However, they will face a much sterner test when City travel to Merseyside this week, with Gareth Taylor's side on an eight-game winning run in all competitions. City currently sit second in Group B, three points behind Liverpool with a game in hand, and with only the group winners guaranteed to advance to the next round, Taylor believes Wednesday's clash will be hugely decisive.
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“They’re top of the group having played one game more," the City boss said ahead of the contest. "It looks like this game is going to be the decider who’s definitely going through. I think at the moment we’re both accumulating points and we’re making a strong case for that.
“We know a lot about them obviously because we’ve seen them play against the other teams and (Liverpool have) probably not beaten the other teams that we’ve played as convincingly as we have, but it makes them a difficult opponent for sure. We saw that in the league when we played them recently.”
Liverpool fell to a 2-1 defeat when the two sides met in the Women's Super League in October. Khadija Shaw put the hosts ahead at the Academy Stadium before Katie Stengel's strike looked to have secured the Reds a crucial point.
While a late goal from Hayley Raso ultimately saw City come out on top in their league meeting, Taylor's side are determined not to take anything for granted when they take on Liverpool again at Prenton Park.
“I think they've come out every game with an identity of how they want to play in possession but also without the ball," he said. "What we know about Liverpool is they’re really aggressive in their pressing and if we can be really effective in our build up play then (we could win).”
Failing to win against City doesn't automatically mean Liverpool won't progress to the quarter finals, with the two best second place teams from across the six groups also going through on a points per game basis. While Matt Beard will be hoping to get the job done with three points on Wednesday, the Liverpool boss will have to use his squad wisely with an important clash with bottom-of-the-table Leicester to come in the WSL on Sunday.
"I think we’re going to have to (rotate) if you look at some of the players coming off the pitch," Beard said after Liverpool's win over West Ham at the weekend.
"We will rotate Wednesday and I’m sure Manchester City will as well. We want to progress in the tournament, we’ll pick a team that we feel can get something out the game for us but three points against Leicester is going to be our priority and we need to make sure we recover from (West Ham) and then we’ve got a big week ahead of us."
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