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Just as Storm Claudia swept through the north-west the night before, City blew the visitors away at the Etihad Stadium. It was a convincing three-nil victory for Andrée Jeglertz’s side owing to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Shaw and Hemp. It was a performance that firmly established their leadership claims as they strengthened their position at the league summit.

Successive Setbacks for United

This scoreline represented consecutive WSL losses for the United manager's side for the first time since last May, placing them seven points off the league leaders with their title hopes in serious doubt.

Manchester United's ability to juggle domestic and European football with a limited team has been a hotly discussed issue since they secured entry to the Champions League. Considering the schedule, it always seemed this was the week that would fully examine this ability. Unfortunately for the opposition, they seemed tired throughout, the memorable win against Paris Saint-Germain clearly having taken a toll.

Team Changes

Marc Skinner had attempted to rotate the squad with a handful of adjustments. Ella Toone, Terland, Janssen and Leah Galton all added vigor, although the omission of the high-performing Melvine Malard to the substitutes raised a few eyebrows.

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

Commanding Opening Period

The storm clouds started to gather for Skinner and his squad from the first whistle. This was a show of the power from City whose potent forward line manipulated and tore United open with a excellent initial 45 minutes performance that saw them net a trio in 21 minutes.

This put the hosts completely dominant and left United disorganized. Prior to this encounter, the away side had conceded just six in this domestic competition but they disintegrated in the presence of the hosts' offensive ingenuity.

Opening Threats

The warning signs came early when Vivianne Miedema used her strength to push Julia Zigiotti off the ball, only to send her shot wide. Hemp was at the center of everything early on, taking advantage of the space left by Jayde Riviere down United’s right flank. Her crosses were causing problems and led to an chance for Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg scrambled off the line.

The Red Devils had multiple forays forwards, their direct style giving them options in the wings but they could not test Ayaka Yamashita. City, meanwhile, commanded possession, taunting their rivals and trying to pull them out of their structure.

Goals Galore

They converted their dominance with almost half an hour played when Aoba Fujino won the home team a corner. A delivery to the far post was nodded across goal by Bunny Shaw for Knaak to nod home. It was Manchester City's 7th headed goal of the campaign.

They added to their cushion with an additional two goals just before the half-time. When Jade Rose was able to drive through the middle from defense, the field became spacious for City. The prominent Casparij picked the ball up on the right before sending a pinpoint driven ball for Shaw to tap home. A short time later, they had a additional score after a quick shift in possession saw Lauren Hemp given the opportunity to drive a shot home from outside the box.

Final Period

The clearest adjustment came from Skinner at the break as Melvine Malard entered for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was futile to change the course of the match. Former City player Jess Park came nearest, hitting the post, but the visitors were creatively abject and failed to register a one shot on goal.

The home side, in contrast, could have increased their cushion when a superb Miedema through ball sent Bunny Shaw away only for her to miss the chance but it was insignificant to the hosts. Having failed to defeat any opponent who finished above them in the prior term, City's side now have victories against the Gunners and United to place them in a strong standing after the opening fixtures.