'Blame me' - Man City boss Gareth Taylor urges patience with Lionesses prospect Khiara Keating after high-profile error in Arsenal defeat

Keating was at fault for Arsenal's second goal of the game on Sunday, which ended in a 4-3 defeat for City. The young goalkeeper came to collect a free-kick delivery from Kyra Cooney-Cross but couldn't get there, allowing Lotte Wubben-Moy to put the Gunners 2-0 up with a header.

However, the blame certainly did not solely lay with her in a costly loss which saw the Cityzens slip out of the Women's Super League's top three. Arsenal were able to leapfrog them into the European places with this win, leaving City with plenty to do in the second half of the season.

Asked about Keating's performance on Sunday, and the decision to play her rather than Japan stalwart Ayaka Yamashita, Taylor said: "She's a young player. They're young players who are going to make mistakes and it's certainly going to be highlighted more when it's the goalkeeper. We have two good goalkeepers competing with one another. They probably played similar amount of games this season. We look at the opponents, we look at their training. We have to be really careful with these young players that we don't just jump on the bandwagon straight away and lay all of the blame with them.

"If you want to blame someone, then blame me. Blame me. I pick the team. I back my players all of the time. But for us to all of a sudden just look at the game, see the four goals and point to Khiara straight away, I think that is a little bit tough because we know that there's a very good goalkeeper in there, but who, at the moment, is suffering. Our job is to help her and support her as best we possibly can. If that support looks like me pushing back on questions, then I will do."

City were Chelsea's closest competitors for the WSL title before Christmas but have now lost four of their last six league games, leaving them nine points behind the Blues, ahead of their clash with Aston Villa on Sunday, and battling for a European place instead.

There is still the chance of cup success on the cards for Taylor's side though, as they are set to face Arsenal in the semi-finals of the League Cup on Thursday. City are also still in the FA Cup and will take on Leicester in the fifth round next weekend.