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Much like the recent storm tore through the northwest the prior day, Manchester City blew the visitors aside at the Etihad Stadium. It was a emphatic three goal victory for the City coach's side owing to goals from Knaak, Bunny Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a performance that truly announced their leadership claims as they strengthened their standing at the top of the table.

Successive Losses for Manchester United

This outcome represented successive league defeats for Marc Skinner’s side for the first time since last May, leaving them a sizable gap off the top team with their title hopes severely dented.

The Red Devils' ability to balance league and continental football with a thin team has been a widely debated subject since they qualified for the European competition. Looking at the fixture list, it always appeared this was the week that would seriously challenge this capability. Regrettably for the visitors, they looked fatigued from start to finish, the historic win against PSG clearly having had an impact.

Tactical Shifts

Skinner had tried to freshen things up with a a few alterations. Ella Toone, Elisabeth Terland, Dominique Janssen and Leah Galton all provided energy, although the dropping of the on-form Malard to the substitutes raised a few eyebrows.

City, in comparison, have no similar loading worries. Andrée Jeglertz made one change from the previous win over the Toffees with Hemp making her first start since healing from injury.

Commanding Opening Period

The trouble started to accumulate for Skinner and his squad from the opening minute. This was a exhibition of the strength from Manchester City whose potent forward line controlled and tore United open with a excellent opening period showing that saw them put three past the keeper in just over twenty minutes.

This put the hosts in a commanding position and saw the visitors all at sea. Before this encounter, United had allowed just six in this league campaign but they fell apart in the presence of Manchester City's attacking flair.

Opening Threats

The warning signs came quickly when Vivianne Miedema used her power to push Zigiotti off the ball, only to pull her shot wide. Lauren Hemp was at the center of everything from the start, exploiting the space left by Riviere down United’s right side. Her passes were creating danger and led to an attempt for Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg scrambled off the line.

The Red Devils had a number of attacks forward, their straightforward approach giving them alternatives in the wide areas but they could not challenge the City goalkeeper. City, in the meantime, commanded the ball, probing their opponents and trying to draw them out of their organization.

Triple Strike

They turned chances into goals with almost half an hour played when Fujino won the home team a corner. A cross to the back post was directed across goal by Bunny Shaw for Knaak to score. It was Manchester City's 7th headed goal of the season.

They increased their cushion with an additional two goals just before the interval. When Jade Rose was able to drive through the center from defense, the field became spacious for City. The key Kerstin Casparij received possession on the right before sending a pinpoint low cross for Bunny Shaw to bundle home. Four minutes later, they had a third goal after a swift change in possession saw Lauren Hemp given the opportunity to fire a shot home from distance.

After the Break

The clearest change came from Skinner at the half-time as Malard was introduced for Terland but by this time it was futile to alter the outcome of the contest. Former City player Jess Park came most likely to score, hitting the upright, but the away team were offensively poor and did not manage to record a one shot on target.

The hosts, meanwhile, could have extended their advantage when a superb Miedema through ball sent Shaw away only for her to miss the chance but it did not affect the result to the winning team. Having failed to beat any team who placed above them the previous campaign, City's side now have wins against the Gunners and United to put them in a strong situation after nine games.