Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor insists players’ health must be a top priority amid their increased workload.

The City manager is wary of overworking his stars ahead of Sunday’s Women’s Super League visit of Brighton.

After the summer’s European Championships and with the World Cup next year there are few chances to rest and Taylor is mindful of his duty of care.

“It’s certainly something I’d imagine is being looked at,” he said.

“There’s a real high demand on all players, and trying to create robust players for the demands that are set is really hard, and getting the balance right of wanting to give some time away and rest but also making sure they’re physically capable.

“It’s a hot topic at the moment, as to where the solutions lie, we try to look at the individual rather than in brackets.”

Lauren Hemp is close to a return with the winger having been ruled out since suffering a thigh injury in the win over Reading in November.

“Lauren’s close, she’s been back training with us the last couple of days so we’ll give her another 24 hours,” Taylor told the club’s official site.

“The temptation is to want to have these players back, it’s the same with Vicky (Losada), just getting them closer.

“I think hopefully over this next period we’ll see a couple coming back, but outside of that everyone’s in fairly good shape and there’s a good feeling as well.”

Struggling Liverpool host mid-table West Ham with boss Matt Beard feeling they have got to grips with the top flight.

“We didn’t get to play Reading in the first game with it being postponed and then we played five teams who all finished in that top five, top six last season,” the Liverpool manager told the club’s official site.

“It was always a tough start for us and we did OK. I think the biggest difference in this division is if you don’t take your chances and the opposition do then you are going to get punished. That has probably been our biggest learning curve.”

Tottenham travel to second bottom Reading with midfielder Angharad James looking for consistency.

“We keep pushing every week in training and games to try to gain that,” she told the club’s official site.

“That’s probably been the thing that’s lacked in our performances – that we have one good game and in the next game we slip up and don’t perform.

“It can be frustrating at times but I think we’re beginning to get there now and there’s been so many new faces within the group that it’s going to take time to merge together and perform as a group.”