After losing to Manchester United in the Women's FA Cup semi-finals, Manchester City Women will be looking for a response when they play host to Everton Women in Sunday's Women's Super League contest.
The Citizens are sitting in fourth position in the WSL table, while the Toffees head into the weekend in eighth position.
Match preview
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Nick Cushing has found life difficult since he returned to the Man City dugout last month, with a significant injury list contributing to an underwhelming run of results.
Cushing began his second stint as Man City boss with four consecutive matches against Chelsea, losing 2-1 in the Women's League Cup final, before winning 2-0 in the first leg of their Women's Champions League quarter-final clash.
However, Man City were unable to build upon that victory as they went on to lose 2-1 in the Women's Super League and 3-0 in the second of their European tie.
The Citizens may have beaten Brighton & Hove Albion in their final league outing before the international window, but they returned from the two-week break with a 2-0 defeat in last Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against rivals Man United, ending their hopes of claiming a piece of silverware this season.
Man City will now focus on their remaining four league games, with the Citizens needing to overcome a seven-point gap to the top three if they are to qualify for next season's Champions League.
Their hopes of taking three points from Sunday's fixture may be tempered by the fact that they have lost three of their previous four home league games (W1).
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Everton start matchday 19 in eighth position after winning five, drawing four and losing nine of their 18 league games this season.
The Toffees have experienced mixed results in their last six league matches, having seen defeats follow each of their previous three WSL victories.
Brian Sorensen's side fell to a 2-0 loss in their away meeting with Man United before the international break, representing their fourth defeat in five WSL road trips.
In fact, Everton have won just one of their nine away league games this season, suggesting that they will have their work cut out to take maximum points from Sunday's contest.
With that said, the Merseyside club have already beaten the Citizens in the 2024-25 campaign, recording a 2-1 home victory in December thanks to goals from Lucy Hope and Honoka Hayashi.
Team News
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Man City's lengthy injury list includes Bunny Shaw, Vivianne Miedema, Lauren Hemp, Laura Blindkilde Brown and Risa Shimizu.
Rebecca Knaak and Lauren Hemp took part in team training this week, but it remains to be seen whether they will be available for Sunday's fixture.
Defender Alex Greenwood and attacker Aoba Fujino remain major doubts despite making progress in their rehabilitation work.
The Citizens will definitely be without Australia international Mary Fowler, who is set for a long spell on the sidelines after she sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in last Sunday's FA Cup semi-final defeat.
As for the visitors, they remain without the services of Megan Finnigan, Aurora Galli, Inma Gabbaro and Louna Ribadeira.
Everton assistant manager Stephen Neligan has confirmed that Hope and Maren Mjelde are both unavailable for selection, while he also revealed that they have doubts over two or three unnamed players.
Mjelde's absence could present Elise Stenevik with the chance to start alongside Barcelona loanee Martina Fernandez in central defence.
Manchester City Women possible starting lineup:
Keating; Casparij, Prior, Layzell, Ouahabi; Hasegawa, Aleixandri, Coombs; Kerolin, Murphy, Park
Everton Women possible starting lineup:
Brosnan; Payne, Fernandez, Stenevik, S. Holmgaard; Snoeijs, Vanhaevermaet, Ladd, Wheeler; T. Payne; Gago
We say: Manchester City Women 2-1 Everton Women
Man City may be struggling with a lengthy injury list, but we think that they will still have enough quality to claim a narrow win over an Everton side that have lost four of their previous five WSL away matches.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
