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Much like the recent storm swept through the northern region the previous evening, City swept United away at the their home ground. It was a convincing 3-0 victory for the City coach's side thanks to goals from Knaak, Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a performance that truly announced their title credentials as they strengthened their standing at the top of the table.

Consecutive Losses for Manchester United

This scoreline represented consecutive league losses for Skinner's side for the maiden instance since last May, putting them a significant margin off the league leaders with their title hopes hanging by a thread.

United’s capacity to manage league and continental soccer with a limited roster has been a hotly discussed issue since they earned a place in the Champions League. Considering the calendar, it always appeared this was the period that would seriously challenge this ability. Unfortunately for the visitors, they looked tired all game, the landmark win against PSG clearly having had an impact.

Team Changes

Marc Skinner had attempted to freshen things up with a several adjustments. Toone, Elisabeth Terland, Janssen and Galton all added freshness, although the exclusion of the high-performing Malard to the bench raised a few eyebrows.

City, in opposition, have no such loading issues. Andrée Jeglertz made one adjustment from last week’s win over Everton with Lauren Hemp making her initial starting appearance since recovering from a physical setback.

Commanding Opening Period

The pressure started to gather for Skinner and his side from the first whistle. This was a exhibition of the strength from City whose dynamic forward line manipulated and pulled the visitors apart with a sublime first half display that saw them net a trio in 21 minutes.

This placed City firmly in control and left United disorganized. Before this fixture, the away side had allowed just a handful in this WSL season but they disintegrated in the face of City’s attacking flair.

Opening Threats

The omens came early when Vivianne Miedema used her physicality to bundle Julia Zigiotti off the ball, only to drag her shot off target. Lauren Hemp was at the core of everything in the beginning, using the gap left by Riviere down the visitors' right flank. Her crosses were creating danger and led to an attempt for Hasegawa that Sandberg scrambled off the line.

United had several sorties ahead, their direct style giving them choices in the wings but they could not challenge Yamashita. Manchester City, on the other hand, commanded possession, taunting their opposition and trying to lure them of their structure.

Triple Strike

They turned chances into goals with almost thirty minutes played when Aoba Fujino won the home team a set-piece. A cross to the back post was directed across goal by Shaw for Knaak to head in. It was City’s seventh headed goal of the season.

They added to their cushion with an additional two goals just before the break. When Jade Rose was able to advance through the midfield from central defence, the field became spacious for City. The key Casparij collected the pass on the right before providing a accurate driven ball for Bunny Shaw to tap home. Shortly later, they had a third goal after a swift shift in possession saw Lauren Hemp afforded the space to strike a shot home from range.

Final Period

The most obvious substitution came from the United manager at the break as Melvine Malard was introduced for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was ineffective to shift the momentum of the match. Former City player Jess Park came nearest, striking the post, but the away team were lacking in ideas and did not manage to register a one shot on goal.

The home side, in contrast, could have increased their cushion when a superb Vivianne Miedema pass sent 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 the previous campaign, City's side now have wins against Arsenal and United to position them in a strong position after nine matches.