Miedema himself admitted that he is still looking for his best form after suffering an ACL injury in December 2022. He has played just 16 club games for Arsenal and City, who he joined last summer.
A winter training camp in Saudi Arabia, Midema says, proved helpful.
“For me, I want to take the responsibility to get us back on top and I’m really happy to do that today,” he told Sky Sports after being named man of the match against Villa.
“We shot a lot during the training camp in Riyadh and I felt really good today. For the second goal I had a scan and knew there was someone behind me, but I was in a good position to hit it.
“I’m really happy to be back out there and I’ve taken all the little wins. I probably felt it sharper before all of this (ACL injury) happened. I’ve given myself time to get back properly and I hope we’ll see the benefits for the rest of the season.
“With my rehab I feel strong, I feel good and I think I did the right things this time. I hope I can continue building minutes and get back to my level.”
It would be a stretch to say the city is back. Avoiding three consecutive 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’re seeing is a City team slowly coming back into their own. One thing they need to be sure of defensively. There are still question marks and they have games against Arsenal. And Chelsea. will come.”
Injuries to City and Taylor have not stopped yet. After Kelly was added to the list, Laura Combs aggravated a thigh injury in the warm-up at Villa Park and had to be dropped from the starting XI.
But, with Shaw and especially Miedema returning, Taylor had reason to be cheerful after his 100th WSL match in charge of City.
“We still have to be careful about Khadija. We were strict about 15 minutes today and no more,” he said. “Same with Viv. We were stretching him to 90 minutes.
“Getting both on the field at the same time, that’s the next step.”
