Manchester City Three Goals to Nil Manchester United: Lauren Hemp on target in City dominant win.

Much like the recent storm tore through the northwest the prior day, City overwhelmed the visitors aside at the their home ground. It was a convincing three goal victory for the City coach's side owing to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Bunny Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a display that firmly established their championship potential as they reinforced their standing at the WSL pinnacle.

Successive Defeats for Manchester United

This outcome signalled back-to-back Women's Super League losses for Marc Skinner’s side for the initial occasion since last May, putting them seven points off the top team with their title hopes severely dented.

Manchester United's capacity to balance league and continental football with a thin roster has been a widely debated topic since they secured entry to the UCL. Looking at the fixture list, it always appeared this was the period that would seriously challenge this ability. Unfortunately for the opposition, they looked weary from start to finish, the memorable win against the French side clearly having had an impact.

Tactical Shifts

Skinner had sought to make changes with a several changes. Toone, Terland, Janssen and Leah Galton all added energy, although the dropping of the in-form Melvine Malard to the bench caused surprise.

Manchester City, in comparison, have no such fitness issues. Andrée Jeglertz made one change from last week’s win over the Toffees with Hemp making her first start since recovering from injury.

Overpowering Start

The storm clouds started to accumulate for the United boss and his side from the first whistle. This was a demonstration of the quality from City whose potent offense played with and pulled the visitors apart with a superb first half display that saw them score three goals in just over twenty minutes.

This put the hosts in a commanding position and saw the visitors struggling. Before this match, United had allowed just six in this WSL season but they disintegrated in the wake of Manchester City's attacking flair.

Early Chances

The omens came early when Miedema used her physicality to muscle Zigiotti off the ball, only to send her shot off target. Lauren Hemp was at the center of everything early on, exploiting the gap left by Riviere down the visitors' right side. Her passes were causing problems and led to an opportunity for Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg cleared off the line.

United had several forays forwards, their long-ball tactic giving them choices in the wings but they could not challenge Yamashita. City, meanwhile, dominated possession, taunting their rivals and trying to pull them out of their organization.

Triple Strike

They made their pressure count with almost thirty minutes played when Aoba Fujino won the hosts a set-piece. A ball to the back post was nodded across goal by Shaw for Rebecca Knaak to score. It was City’s 7th headed goal of the term.

They increased their advantage with an additional two goals just before the interval. When Jade Rose was able to drive through the middle from central defence, the play became spacious for the hosts. The key Casparij picked the ball up on the wing before providing a accurate ground pass for Shaw to force home. Shortly later, they had a additional score after a rapid change in the ball saw Hemp allowed the room to fire a attempt home from range.

Final Period

The most obvious substitution came from Skinner at the interval as Melvine Malard was introduced for Terland but by this time it was too late to alter the outcome of the match. Former Manchester City player Jess Park came most likely to score, rattling the post, but the visitors were offensively poor and failed to register a solitary shot on target.

The hosts, on the other hand, could have increased their lead when a excellent Miedema pass sent Shaw away only for her to miss the chance but it mattered little to the hosts. Having failed to defeat any team who ended above them last season, City's side now have victories against the Gunners and United to put them in a commanding position after nine matches.