Miedema and Taylor delighted with Man City 'character' in comeback win

Chasity Grant gave Villa, who were playing for the final time under interim boss Shaun Goater, a sixth-minute lead, catching City out with a blistering counter-attack before firing the opener into the roof of the net.

However, the visitors soon flipped the script at Villa Park. Miedema scored twice in seven minutes, profiting from a loose backpass to equalise, before curling in a stunning second from outside the box.

Though Laia Aleixandri's own goal 42 seconds into the second half gave Villa hope in their 100th WSL game, Mary Fowler scored with a brilliant strike of her own to restore City’s lead, while Jess Park added some gloss to the scoreline just after the hour.

Miedema has now scored in three of her first four WSL starts for City, with Khadija Shaw in February 2022 the only other player to manage that feat.

The Dutchwoman, who has only recently returned to the squad after overcoming an injury setback, was delighted with the resilience the visitors showed to come from behind and bounce back from their Manchester derby defeat last weekend.

"After the last week that we have had, a disappointing result on Sunday [against Manchester United] and then the girls did amazing on Wednesday night [in the League Cup to beat United]," Miedema told Sky Sports.

"There was a short turnaround before today and to be behind 1-0 inside 10 minutes is tough. I think we showed a great deal of character to come back.

"For the girls, it is tough [to concede so early]. 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.

"In Riyadh, during the training camp, we did a lot of shooting, and I just feel really good.

"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. As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in. In the end, we made it really difficult for ourselves, but [we are] happy we got the three points."

Taylor took charge of his 100th WSL game on Saturday, with this his 73rd win in the competition. Of managers to take charge of 20+ matches in the competition, only Joe Montemurro (75.7%) has a better win rate than him (73%).

It also ensured they would not lose three top-flight games in a row for the first time since 2021, and Taylor was impressed with how City reacted to going behind so early.

"From the start, we looked to try and assert our dominance and started the game pretty well, but then the first action Villa had, we didn't deal with it. Before you know it, you are 1-0 down," he told Sky Sports.

"We showed really good character to bounce back. Our pressing was OK at moments. The performance from us was a bit disjointed, but playing three games in six days has been really tough for us. The girls turned it around before half-time, two quality moments from Viv [Miedema].

"We spoke about starting the second half in the right manner, but conceded straight away. Very frustrating. Again, though, we showed more quality to take the lead again and, in the end, it could have been more goals than it actually was.