MANCHESTER CITY said today that the racist and misogynistic abuse directed at their forward Khadija Shaw at the weekend was to blame for her absence at Thursday’s League Cup semi-final victory over Arsenal.

City head coach Gareth Taylor said Shaw had been affected by the social media abuse.

“When you are affected by things like that it’s really, really difficult,” he told Sky Sports after Thursday’s match. “I’ve not really had time to have a good conversation with her about it, but she knows and she needs to know that the whole team and the whole club are behind her on this.”