Man City haul themselves into Champions League contention with 'gutsy' win vs Arsenal

Gareth Taylor praised Man City's 'gutsy' performance as his side secured a huge 2-1 victory over Arsenal to leapfrog the Gunners into the WSL's final Champions League place.

City made two outfield changes to the side that were beaten 1-0 by the Gunners of the course 120 minutes in the Continental Cup three days earlier, and only used one substitution - Hayley Raso replacing Chloe Kelly in second half stoppage time - on Saturday, but turned in a relentless display to take all three points at the Academy Stadium.

Having begun the season by crashing out of the Champions League and suffering back-to-back league defeats, the result now leaves City three points ahead of Arsenal, level on points with rivals Man Utd and two points behind WSL leaders Chelsea - although Taylor's side have played a game more than the aforementioned three teams.

"It's so difficult this WSL league, with 22 games you have to be pretty faultless," Taylor told Sky Sports at full time. "A draw can feel like a defeat, a defeat can feel like a death in the family almost. It's so tight and there's so much scrutiny.

"We were so disappointed to not go on and win the Conti Cup again, we really put everything into that, although I think we gave a really good defence of it, we gave everything and there were some really proud bits of the game the other night that we knew we could capitalise on today.

"But today was all about energy; we only made one change, one sub. While the players were flagging at the end, they really showed every resource to get the game won."

Arsenal had played a back three to great affect on Wednesday evening, but looked defensively all over the place on Saturday, with City pressing the Gunners high up the pitch and frequently winning the ball back deep in the Gunners half. City's second goal came from Bunny Shaw dispossessing Lotte Wubben-Moy on the edge of the Arsenal box.

The intelligent Yui Hasegawa and the energetic Filipa Angeldahl were instrumental for City in midfield, while Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly wreaked havoc down either flank.

"I thought Hasegawa was outstanding again, one of the best players I've ever worked with, she's so good," Taylor added. "I felt we mixed our game up a bit, and even long, straight balls up to Bunny Shaw, we just seemed to be at their back four all of the time.

"It was more about how proud I am of that performance, and how gutsy it was in the second half. I thought we should have been out of sight at half time, I think we could have been five or six up with the chances we created and the pressure we forced Arsenal into making errors."