Fit-again Miedema a tonic for troubled Man City

Manager Gareth Taylor couldn’t help but smile when BBC Sport inquired about the possibility of Manchester City returning to their best form.

“Not yet”, he said following City’s 4-2 Women’s Super League win at Aston Villa on Saturday. “We have lost world-class players. They have a significant impact on the game.

” It will start to feel better now Viv (Miedema) and Bunny (Khadija Shaw) are back. It’ll be great when Lauren (Hemp) and Alex (Greenwood) are back too. “

Injuries have severely hindered City’s efforts to challenge Chelsea, who are perennial WSL champions, to the top. Before this win at Villa, they had an unfathomable amount of catch-up to do after losing twice in the previous two league seasons.

Both Winger Hemp and Greenwood have long-term absentees and have knee problems. Shaw, the WSL top scorer, injured for six games before coming back as a second-half substitute at Villa, where she appeared unfit for the first time.

Another forward, Chloe Kelly, is out with an ankle injury, having previously struggled for minutes this season. Kelly, who has been linked with a move to Manchester United, might have been eligible to play for Villa if he had been fit, according to Taylor.

However, there is hope for the better in Miedema, who returned from a three-month absence due to a knee injury and appears to be at her best.

Both goals demonstrated Miedema’s status as the all-time top-scoring and mostfeared forward in women’s soccer. She swung first into the corner after receiving a sloppy pass from Villa’s Dan Turner.

The second, which twisted a defender outside the box before unleashing an unstoppable effort into the top corner, was a contender for the season’s opener.

When City scored in the sixth minute to take the lead, Chasity Grant’s opener for Villa was perfectly timed. Their symbolism cannot be underestimated, even though Mary Fowler and Jess Park did not score the winning goals in the second half after Laia Aleixandri’s own goal leveled Villa.

They show that City, with a fully-fit Miedema, will be a force to be reckoned with again. And that Miedema, who was recently diagnosed with her most recent knee problem, is still capable of the extraordinary when confident and fit. She also suffered a serious anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prior to that injury.

Prior to her injury, she scored twice in five games for City earlier this season. She appears much sharper now.

Miedema herself admits to still striving for the best form after suffering an ACL injury in December 2022. Since joining Arsenal and City last summer, she has only played 16 club games.

A winter training camp in Saudi Arabia, Miedema says, has proved helpful.

She stated in her acceptance speech that she only wants to take responsibility for putting us back on top again and that she is pleased to have been able to do that today.

I just feel really good right now that we shot a lot of the time in Riyadh during the training camp. I looked up for the second goal because I knew someone was behind me, but I was able to just hit it.

“I’m actually just happy to be back out there, and I’m sprinkling up all the positive things.” I felt this sharp probably before this all (ACL injury) happened. I prepared myself for the season’s end by returning in good health, and I look forward to seeing the results.

I feel strong, good, and confident that I’ve made the right decisions this time around thanks to my rehab. I’m hoping to return to my level after a few minutes of improvement.

To say City are back would be a stretch. It’s great that they haven’t lost in a row since October 2021, but they are still six points clear and have games planned against their top three rivals.

Fern Whelan, a former England defender, stated to BBC 5 Sports Extra: “We are seeing a City side slowly returning to themselves.” The one thing is that they need to sure up defensively. They have games against Chelsea and Arsenal in the pipeline, but there are still some doubts.

The injuries still don’t stop for City and Taylor. Laura Coombs had to withdraw from the starting lineup after Kelly was added to the list during the warm-up at Villa Park.

However, Taylor had good things to look forward to after his 100th WSL game in charge of City with Shaw and particularly Miedema coming back.

” We still have to be mindful with Khadija. We were strict with 15 minutes today and no more, “he said”. Same with Viv. We were stretching her to 90 minutes.