Arsenal v Manchester City: Preview, Team News and Prediction

Manchester City Women travel to Arsenal as their defence of the League Cup continues on Wednesday night. The blues won the competition last year, beating Chelsea 3-1 in the final and eased into the the last four of this year’s competition with a 6-0 thrashing of Bristol City.

Arsenal cruised past Aston Villa 3-0 to book their place in their first game of the competition. The Gunners were allowed a by into the quarter-final due to their participation in the Champions League.

They are yet to play each other so far this season and this will be the first of two successive games against the North London side - City welcome the Gunners to the Academy Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.

Form

City go into the match on the back of a 16-match unbeaten run, which has seen them win 14 and draw two. Saturday’s 2-0 win at Leicester moved the blues above Arsenal into third place, however, the Gunners reversed it with a goalless draw at West Ham.

That result left Arsenal five points behind leaders Chelsea but with a game in hand, and they’ll be wary that, given City’s incredible run of form, they will need to be on their best form to stave of City’s top three aspirations.

Team News

City have no new injury worries ahead of the clash and manager Gareth Taylor may stick with the same side that comfortably beat Leicester at the weekend. Taylor will make late checks on Demi Stokes and Esme Morgan before finalising his team. Alanna Kennedy y also return to the starting XI.

Arsenal will be without England star Beth Mead, who ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in November, but Swiss midfielder Lia Walti is in line for a return.

Last Meetings

Least season, City came agonisingly close to beating the Gunners at the Academy Stadium. Bunny Shaw had given City the lead in the 65th minute, but Tobin Heath grabbed a late equaliser for the Gunners.

It was a different story in September when the teams met at Arsenal. Vivianne Miedema opened the scoring after ten minutes and Kim Little doubled the lead on 23. Katie McCabe (60) and a Little penalty put the Gunners 4-0 up before Leah Williamson hit a fifth in injury time as City suffered a heavy defeat.

Prediction

This is a difficult one to call. Arsenal away is always a hard place to go to and City will need to be on their toes throughout. That said, Arsenal don’t look the team they were at the start of the season and Mead’s injury may well have affected them more than anyone realises. May be tough but I’m tipping City to edge it.

Arsenal 1-2 City