Fit-again Miedema a tonic for troubled Man City

When asked by BBC Sport whether we are close to seeing Manchester City back to their best, manager Gareth Taylor could only smile ruefully.

"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. The influence they have on the game is massive.

"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 hugely hampered City in their attempts to chase to perennial champions Chelsea at the top of the WSL. Back-to-back league defeats before this win at Villa have left them with a perhaps insurmountable amount of catch-up to do.

Winger Hemp and defender Greenwood have both had knee surgery and are long-term absentees. WSL top-scorer Shaw missed six games with injury before returning as a second-half sub at Villa, where she looked short of full fitness.

Another forward, Chloe Kelly, is out with an ankle injury, having previously struggled for minutes this season. Taylor said Kelly, who has been linked with a move for Manchester United, would have been in contention to play at Villa if fit.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of Miedema, who is back after a three-month absence because of a knee injury and looks to be close to her best.

Since returning from that injury, the Dutch forward has scored four goals in three games across all competitions. Her strikes against Ipswich in the FA Cup and Manchester United in a 4-2 defeat were not headline grabbing, but her double at Villa certainly was.

'The challenge is to make her feel confident'

Both goals demonstrated why Miedema is the all-time WSL top-scorer and one of the most feared forwards in the women's game. For the first she pounced on a sloppy pass by Villa defender Dan Turner, sweeping first time into the corner.

The second was a goal of the season contender, twisting a defender outside the box before launching an unstoppable effort into the top corner.

They were also perfectly timed goals as they put City ahead after they had fallen behind to Chasity Grant's sixth-minute opener for Villa. And, while they were not the winning goals - Mary Fowler and Jess Park both netted in the second half after Laia Aleixandri's own goal pulled Villa level - their symbolism cannot be underestimated.

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

She scored twice in five games for City earlier this season before her injury, but not in the WSL. She looks much sharper now.

"The challenge with Viv is to make her feel confident and get her on the pitch as much as possible after that injury," said Taylor. "She has started two games, which is progress."

'City are slowly getting back to themselves'

Miedema herself admits that she is still seeking her very best form following the ACL injury in December 2022. She has played only 16 club games since for Arsenal and City, whom she joined last summer.

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

"For me, I just want to take responsibility to put us back on top again and I am really happy to have been able to do that today," she told Sky Sports after being named player of the match versus Villa.

"In Riyadh during the training camp we did a lot of shooting and I just feel really good today. For the second goal I did a scan and knew there was someone behind me, but I was in a good position to just hit it.

"I am actually just happy to be back out there and I am taking all of the small wins. I felt this sharp probably before this all (ACL injury) happened. I gave myself the time to come back properly and I hope we can see the benefits in the rest of the season.

"With my rehab I feel strong, I feel good and I feel like I have done the right things this time around. I hope I can keep building on minutes and get back to my level."

To say City are back would be a stretch. Avoiding three successive defeats for the first time since October 2021 is great, but they are still six points off the top and have games against their fellow top three sides on the horizon.

Former England defender Fern Whelan told BBC 5 Sports Extra: "What we are seeing is a City side slowly getting back to themselves. The one thing is that they need to sure up defensively. There are still question marks there and they have games against Arsenal and Chelsea to come."

The injuries still don't stop for City and Taylor. After Kelly was added to the list, Laura Coombs exacerbated a thigh injury in the warm-up at Villa Park and had to pull out of the starting XI.

But, with Shaw and particularly Miedema returning, Taylor had reasons to be cheerful following his 100th WSL match in charge of City.

"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.

"Getting both on pitch at the same time, that's the next task."