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Similar to bad weather hit the north-west the night before, City swept United aside at the Etihad. It was a convincing three goal victory for Andrée Jeglertz’s side due to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Shaw and Hemp. It was a display that firmly established their leadership claims as they strengthened their position at the league summit.

Back-to-Back Defeats for Manchester United

This result represented successive Women's Super League defeats for Marc Skinner’s side for the first time since last May, putting them a sizable gap off the league leaders with their trophy ambitions hanging by a thread.

Manchester United's capacity to manage league and European soccer with a thin roster has been a hotly discussed issue since they qualified for the Champions League. Reviewing the fixture list, it always felt like this was the matchday that would seriously challenge this fortitude. Sadly for the away side, they appeared fatigued all game, the landmark win against the French side clearly having taken a toll.

Team Changes

Marc Skinner had tried to freshen things up with a handful of changes. Ella Toone, Terland, Dominique Janssen and Leah Galton all provided freshness, although the exclusion of the high-performing Malard to the bench caused surprise.

City, in contrast, have no such workload worries. Jeglertz made one adjustment from last week’s win over Everton with Lauren Hemp making her first start since recovering from a fitness issue.

Overpowering Start

The storm clouds started to gather for the United boss and his side from the opening minute. This was a show of the quality from City whose energetic offense manipulated and tore United open with a sublime opening period performance that saw them net a trio in 21 minutes.

This placed City completely dominant and had Manchester United struggling. In advance of this match, the away side had allowed just a handful in this league campaign but they disintegrated in the face of City’s offensive ingenuity.

Opening Threats

The warning signs came quickly when Vivianne Miedema used her power to muscle Zigiotti off the ball, only to pull her shot wide. Lauren Hemp was at the heart of everything from the start, exploiting the room left by Jayde Riviere down the visitors' wing. Her deliveries were creating danger and led to an chance for Yui Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg cleared off the line.

The Red Devils had several forays forward, their straightforward approach giving them options in the wide areas but they could not test Ayaka Yamashita. Manchester City, on the other hand, controlled the ball, teasing their opposition and trying to draw them out of their defensive shape.

Triple Strike

They converted their dominance with almost half an hour played when Fujino won the hosts a set-piece. A ball to the far post was nodded across goal by Bunny Shaw for Knaak to head in. It was City’s 7th header of the season.

They increased their advantage with another pair of goals just before the half-time. When Rose was allowed to maraud through the midfield from defense, the pitch became spacious for City. The prominent Kerstin Casparij picked the ball up on the right before delivering a accurate ground pass for Shaw to bundle home. Four minutes later, they had a third after a rapid turnover in the ball saw Hemp given the space to drive a effort home from outside the box.

Final Period

The clearest change came from Skinner at the break as Melvine Malard was introduced for Terland but by this time it was ineffective to change the course of the match. Former Manchester City player Park came most likely to score, striking the post, but the away team were lacking in ideas and did not manage to register a solitary shot on target.

The home side, meanwhile, could have added to their cushion when a excellent Miedema pass sent Shaw away only for her to miss the chance but it did not affect the result to the hosts. After failing to overcome any side who ended above them the previous campaign, the manager's side now have wins against the Gunners and United to position them in a commanding position after nine games.