Manchester City Three-Nil Man United: Lauren Hemp on target in Manchester City stroll.

Just as Storm Claudia swept through the northwest the night before, Manchester City blew Manchester United aside at the their home ground. It was a convincing three-nil victory for Andrée Jeglertz’s side thanks to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Shaw and Hemp. It was a performance that clearly signaled their title credentials as they reinforced their standing at the top of the table.

Successive Setbacks for Manchester United

This scoreline marked back-to-back league losses for the United manager's side for the maiden instance since last May, placing them a sizable gap off the league leaders with their trophy ambitions severely dented.

Manchester United's capability to juggle league and European football with a thin roster has been a widely debated topic since they secured entry to the UCL. Reviewing the calendar, it always seemed this was the week that would fully examine this capability. Unfortunately for the opposition, they seemed tired all game, the memorable win against the French side clearly having had an impact.

Tactical Shifts

Marc Skinner had tried to rotate the squad with a several adjustments. Toone, Elisabeth Terland, Dominique Janssen and Galton all brought freshness, although the dropping of the high-performing Malard to the bench was questioned.

City, in comparison, have no such loading concerns. Jeglertz made one change from last week’s win over Everton with Lauren Hemp making her return to the lineup since recovering from a fitness issue.

Commanding Opening Period

The pressure started to gather for Skinner and his team from the first whistle. This was a show of the quality from Manchester City whose potent attack played with and tore United open with a sublime opening period showing that saw them net a trio in just over twenty minutes.

This left the home team completely dominant and saw the visitors all at sea. In advance of this match, the away side had conceded just a handful in this league campaign but they disintegrated in the wake of the hosts' attacking flair.

Opening Threats

The early indicators came early when Vivianne Miedema used her strength to bundle Zigiotti off the ball, only to pull her shot past the post. Hemp was at the heart of everything early on, exploiting the room left by Jayde Riviere down the visitors' right side. Her passes were posing a threat and led to an chance for Yui Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg cleared off the line.

The Red Devils had a number of forays forward, their straightforward approach giving them alternatives in the wings but they could not challenge Yamashita. Manchester City, in the meantime, commanded the ball, teasing their rivals and trying to lure them of their defensive shape.

Triple Strike

They converted their dominance with almost the first period played when Aoba Fujino won the home team a corner. A delivery to the back post was headed across goal by Shaw for Rebecca Knaak to head in. It was Manchester City's 7th headed goal of the season.

They added to their advantage with an additional two goals just before the interval. When Jade Rose was permitted to maraud through the middle from the back, the play widened for City. The influential Casparij collected the pass on the wing before delivering a precise driven ball for Bunny Shaw to tap home. Shortly later, they had a additional score after a rapid shift in the ball saw Hemp allowed the opportunity to strike a effort home from distance.

Second Half

The clearest change came from Skinner at the half-time as Malard entered for Terland but by this time it was too late to shift the momentum of the game. Ex- City player Jess Park came closest, striking the upright, but the visitors were creatively abject and did not manage to record a one shot on target.

The home side, in contrast, could have increased their cushion when a excellent Vivianne Miedema pass sent Bunny Shaw away only for her to fail to convert but it did not affect the result to the winning team. After failing to defeat any opponent who finished above them last season, the manager's side now have victories against Arsenal and United to put them in a strong standing after nine games.