The Citizens 3-0 The Red Devils: Lauren Hemp on target in Manchester City comfortable victory.

Just as the recent storm hit the northwest the previous evening, the home side overwhelmed the visitors aside at the their home ground. It was a convincing three goal win for Andrée Jeglertz’s side owing to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a performance that truly announced their title credentials as they strengthened their position at the league summit.

Consecutive Setbacks for United

This scoreline represented consecutive Women's Super League losses for the United manager's side for the initial occasion since last May, putting them a sizable gap off the top team with their championship aspirations hanging by a thread.

The Red Devils' capability to manage league and European soccer with a thin squad has been a widely debated topic since they earned a place in the Champions League. Considering the fixture list, it always felt like this was the week that would truly test this fortitude. Sadly for the opposition, they seemed fatigued all game, the historic win against the French side clearly having left its mark.

Team Changes

Marc Skinner had attempted to make changes with a handful of changes. Toone, Terland, Janssen and Leah Galton all provided freshness, although the exclusion of the in-form Malard to the sidelines caused surprise.

Manchester City, in opposition, have no similar fitness worries. Andrée Jeglertz made one adjustment from the previous win over Everton with Lauren Hemp making her first start since recovering from a fitness issue.

Commanding Opening Period

The pressure started to gather for Skinner and his squad from the first whistle. This was a demonstration of the quality from City whose energetic offense controlled and tore United open with a superb first half showing that saw them put three past the keeper in 21 minutes.

This placed City firmly in control and saw the visitors disorganized. Prior to this fixture, United had let in just six in this league campaign but they disintegrated in the presence of the hosts' attacking flair.

Early Chances

The omens came early when Vivianne Miedema used her strength to bundle Julia Zigiotti off the ball, only to send her shot off target. Lauren Hemp was at the heart of everything from the start, taking advantage of the gap left by Riviere down the visitors' right flank. Her passes were posing a threat and led to an chance for Yui Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg kicked off the line.

The Red Devils had several forays forward, their long-ball tactic giving them choices in the wings but they could not trouble Ayaka Yamashita. City, on the other hand, controlled the ball, probing their opposition and trying to pull them out of their structure.

Triple Strike

They converted their dominance with almost half an hour played when Aoba Fujino won the home team a corner. A ball to the back post was headed across goal by Bunny Shaw for Rebecca Knaak to nod home. It was City’s seventh headed goal of the term.

They increased their advantage with another pair of goals just before the interval. When Rose was allowed to advance through the midfield from central defence, the play became spacious for the hosts. The key Casparij received possession on the right side before delivering a precise ground pass for Shaw to tap home. Four minutes later, they had a third after a swift shift in the ball saw Lauren Hemp afforded the space to strike a shot home from distance.

Final Period

The clearest change came from Skinner at the half-time as Malard came on for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was ineffective to change the course of the game. Ex- Manchester City player Jess Park came nearest, hitting the upright, but the away team were offensively poor and were unable to produce a single shot on target.

The home side, in contrast, could have increased their cushion when a delightful Miedema through ball sent Shaw away only for her to fail to convert but it did not affect the result to the winning team. After failing to overcome any opponent who ended above them the previous campaign, City's side now have wins against the Gunners and Manchester United to place them in a strong situation after nine games.