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Similar to Storm Claudia swept through the north-west the night before, Manchester City swept the visitors away at the their home ground. It was a convincing three-nil win for their manager's side owing to goals from Knaak, Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a performance that truly announced their title credentials as they reinforced their position at the top of the table.

Successive Defeats for United

This scoreline signalled back-to-back WSL defeats for Marc Skinner’s side for the first time since last May, putting them seven points off the league leaders with their title hopes in serious doubt.

Manchester United's capability to balance domestic and European soccer with a thin roster has been a hotly discussed subject since they secured entry to the Champions League. Looking at the fixture list, it always appeared this was the matchday that would seriously challenge this capability. Regrettably for the visitors, they looked fatigued throughout, the landmark win against the French side clearly having left its mark.

Tactical Shifts

Marc Skinner had attempted to make changes with a handful of alterations. Ella Toone, Elisabeth Terland, Dominique Janssen and Leah Galton all brought freshness, although the dropping of the on-form Malard to the substitutes raised a few eyebrows.

The hosts, in contrast, have no such workload worries. The City coach made one change from last week’s win over the Toffees with Lauren Hemp making her initial starting appearance since recovering from a fitness issue.

Overpowering Start

The pressure started to gather for the United boss and his squad from the first whistle. This was a show of the quality from Manchester City whose dynamic forward line controlled and tore United open with a excellent opening period performance that saw them score three goals in under half an hour.

This put the hosts completely dominant and left United struggling. Before this match, the away side had let in just few in this domestic competition but they collapsed in the wake of Manchester City's creative prowess.

Initial Opportunities

The omens came quickly when Miedema used her power to push Zigiotti off the ball, only to pull her shot wide. Hemp was at the core of everything from the start, using the gap left by Riviere down the visitors' right side. Her deliveries were creating danger and led to an chance for Yui Hasegawa that Sandberg cleared off the line.

United had several attacks forward, their straightforward approach giving them options in the wide areas but they could not challenge Yamashita. Manchester City, meanwhile, dominated the ball, probing their rivals and trying to pull them out of their structure.

Scoring Spree

They turned chances into goals with almost half an hour played when Fujino won the hosts a corner. A cross to the back post was headed across goal by Bunny Shaw for Knaak to nod home. It was Manchester City's seventh headed goal of the campaign.

They extended their lead with another pair of goals just before the interval. When Rose was permitted to drive through the middle from central defence, the pitch became spacious for the hosts. The key Casparij collected the pass on the right before delivering a precise driven ball for Bunny Shaw to force home. Shortly later, they had a third after a swift turnover in possession saw Lauren Hemp given the space to strike a shot home from range.

Final Period

The most obvious substitution came from the United manager at the half-time as Malard was introduced for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was ineffective to change the course of the game. Former City player Jess Park came nearest, hitting the post, but the visitors were creatively abject and failed to register a one shot on target.

The home side, in contrast, could have added to their advantage when a excellent Miedema long ball sent Shaw away only for her to miss the chance but it did not affect the result to the winning team. Previously unable to overcome any opponent who finished above them last season, Jeglertz’s side now have successes against the Gunners and United to place them in a favorable standing after the opening fixtures.