Vivianne Miedema set for injury return as Man City boss Gareth Taylor provides updates on recoveries of Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood and Bunny Shaw

City have been dealing with something of an injury crisis in recent weeks, with their list of long-term absentees growing to include Miedema, Hemp, Shaw, Alex Greenwood, Risa Shimizu and Sandy MacIver. Miedema, Hemp and Greenwood have all had knee surgeries, in October, November and December, respectively; Shaw was ruled out until at least the New Year with a lower leg problem just before Christmas; while Shimizu and MacIver are both recovering from devastating ACL injuries.

However, fans were delighted to see the likes of Miedema, Hemp, Shaw and Shimizu on City's winter training camp earlier this month as they continue their recoveries, with the former set to make her first appearance since October when Ipswich come to town in the FA Cup on Sunday.

"We have Viv back, which is a real positive," City head coach Taylor said in his press conference on Friday. "We're not going to be able to go straight into it with her. We're gonna have to build her back up. To have Viv back is fantastic, because we know what a top player she is and what an influence she has on others. Just by being out there, she really helps other players perform even better. She's just got that talent and she gives so much time and space to other players, as well as being really quality in herself. It's good to have her back.

"Some other players will be slightly longer, maybe Bunny - obviously Lauren and Alex, as we're aware of - but Bunny was with us last week, which was good. She was out training separately, but from what I saw, she looked really good, she feels really good, so we'll see what that looks like for her. Whether we can get her back in this next period or not, we'll see, but hopefully we can, because, again, similar to what we're saying about Viv and Alex, they're really influential players."

There will likely be a debut for January recruit Rebecca Knaak on Sunday too, whose arrival bolsters the defence following that injury to Greenwood last month. The former Germany youth international signed at the start of the month from Swedish club Rosengard, where she worked with City's new director of women's football, Therese Sjogran.

That signing and Miedema's return are particularly timely to get the numbers up as City have two clashes with Manchester United in January, first in the league and then in the League Cup quarter-finals, though they still must cope without the likes of Hemp and Shaw for the time being.