No Khadija Shaw, no Women's Super League title? Injury to star striker presents Manchester City with a huge challenge in quest to dethrone Chelsea

There are two big reasons why Shaw’s injury is such a blow to City. The first, of course, is that she is one of the best centre-forwards in the game, and that is not just because she scores goals. The 27-year-old holds the ball up well, she creates for others and she is an asset defensively, too, whether it is by protecting her own goal at set-pieces with her aerial prowess or leading the press from the front.

Shaw’s multi-dimensional game makes her a nightmare to defend. She is a towering, strong striker who can dominate in physical battles and be a real threat from crosses, which is great in a team that has so many fantastic wingers. Her profile often attracts the attention of more than one defender as well, creating spaces for others to exploit. But Shaw is also fantastic at running in behind to finish one-v-one and, in the often overlooked part of her game, she is incredibly technical, meaning it’s not uncommon to see her create opportunities for herself out of nothing or be a threat from range.

“The most impressive thing for me with Bunny is, you accept she’ll score goals, but it’s the other parts of her game,” Taylor said earlier this season, later picking her out as “a unique player”. “She has good games, she has her poorer games, but she gives everything for the team. She's honest, she helps the team and her goals are so important for us.”

Replacing a player with such a rare profile would always be tricky, then, but the other main reason why Shaw’s absence is so significant is because there is not really another senior centre-forward in the City squad. Taylor has a lot of attackers at his disposal, sure, though most of them are wingers and attacking midfielders. Some have experience as a central striker, however it is either not recent or in a small amount.

In fact, the only natural centre-forward City have, aside from Shaw, is Poppy Pritchard, the talented 18-year-old they snapped up on deadline day in January. The England youth international certainly has a lot of quality, but she is very much one for the future and has yet to represent her new club at senior level.

Whoever Taylor counts on to fill Shaw’s shoes, then, it’ll require a bit of adjustment. He might be able to find someone to replace some of her qualities, but not all of them. City are a team who put a lot of emphasis on wing play and crosses because of the great wide players they have and the focal point Shaw is. That’ll have to change a bit as it will not be as effective without the Jamaica international.

So, who are Taylor’s options to lead the line for these last three games? Hemp has played as a centre-forward for England and City in recent times, though there’s no doubt that her best position is out wide. Mary Fowler, the 21-year-old from Australia, is another who has played there in the past, but she is in excellent form since usurping Chloe Kelly for the role on the right of the front three. It doesn’t make much sense to move either of them from positions they are thriving in at the moment. The same goes for Park, who can be a striker but has been performing brilliantly in the attacking midfield role.

With it unlikely that Pritchard is thrown in for her first taste of the WSL right now, there is one other option that is probably the most obvious solution for Taylor. That is a return to the starting XI for Kelly.

The England winger has been among the substitutes for all of City’s last five games, since Fowler was picked ahead of her for the FA Cup clash with Tottenham. The Australia star has grabbed her opportunity with both hands and shown great form, keeping Kelly on the bench as a result.

However, when Shaw limped off on Sunday, it was Kelly who Taylor turned to to lead the line. It’s a position she is familiar with, especially from her time with Everton, and the coach was happy with how she did in her 45 minutes against West Ham. “[She] came onto the pitch and did really well in that position, put them under a lot of pressure, created some good opportunities,” he said.

To put Kelly in Shaw’s place would not mess with the chemistry and make-up of the team dramatically from recent weeks, leaving Hemp, Fowler and Park in their current roles, while also adding a player to the central role who has pedigree and can be a real threat.

Kelly will be itching to take her chance, too. These last few weeks have been her first really out of favour at club level, the winger having been a near-constant starter since her senior breakthrough at Everton as an 18-year-old.

She wasn’t necessarily in bad form when Taylor opted to bring Fowler into the line-up instead, but her level was short of her usual best, which is perhaps her being victim to the high standards that come with being a top player and also being part of a very competitive and quality squad.

There is no better way for Kelly to respond, though, than by really grabbing her opportunities by the scruff of the neck when they come, and it looks like they are going to come from the start in these last three WSL outings, whether she becomes the direct replacement for Shaw or returns to the wing as someone else shifts centrally.

Taylor will test out that new-look attack for the first time on Sunday, when Man City pay bottom side Bristol City a visit. The Robins are not down yet and will be fighting hard to get a result, but it is certainly a kind fixture for the Cityzens as they figure out how things will work without Shaw. It’s much kinder than the following week’s game, at least, as that will see third-placed Arsenal come to town in what is probably the trickiest fixture for either City or Chelsea as the two battle for the WSL title. At least Taylor will have had time to test things before facing the Gunners.

That said, there’s not exactly much time for the players to adapt. With Chelsea unlikely to drop any points in the run-in, City will also need to be faultless and win all of their last three games. If both teams do that, it’ll leave them level on points at the season’s end, too, so how City cope without Shaw will be even more significant as the title could well come down to goal difference.

When the Jamaica star scored the only goal against Chelsea in February, she spoke brilliantly about the team spirit and how vital that was going to be in the final weeks of the campaign. “We’ve spoken about sticking together as a team, staying humble, communicating and working for each other,” she explained. “As the season’s gone on we’ve kept on improving and growing as a team. We’re a close group and this is what it’s all about.”

Shaw’s injury is going to test the collective more than ever in the next few weeks. If City want to win the title, they’re going to have to do it without the league’s deadliest striker. Do they have what it takes as a group to overcome that challenge? We’re about to find out.