Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor picked out Steph Houghton and Gemma Bonner’s central defensive partnership as the key to their FA Cup semi-final victory over Arsenal on Thursday evening.

The current holders beat the 14-time winners 2-1 thanks to goals from Houghton and new American signing Sam Mewis.

And while the result was always going to be the key for Taylor’s side, he was even more impressed by the manner in which they got the win.

"It feels great. I’m really pleased with the performance," he told the club website.

"Sometimes, like at Leicester (in the quarter-finals on Sunday), it’s not about the performance – it’s about getting through. But I pride myself on performance and we battled hard, especially in the second half, having played some of our best football in the first half.

"We potentially could have been another goal up and I never thought we were in danger but then they scored a goal from nothing! The reaction was amazing – to score again inside five minutes.

"The partnership Steph and Gemma Bonner have is great. We have quality in other areas in terms of the ability to rotate but in that area, it’s those two. They’ve formed a partnership and the whole team defended from the front.

"This is a successful team. There are players who have won FA Cups before and other trophies, and winning breeds winning. That’s what we want and every player played a part.

"I know we’re in a difficult period in terms of three competitions and games every six days but this is the beauty of the game."

City will now face Everton in the FA Cup final on November 1 as they look to become the first side since Arsenal in 2014 to retain the trophy.

Next up for Taylor’s side in the Women’s Super League is a home match against Tottenham on Sunday.