🔗 Share this article Man City Three Goals to Nil Man United: Hemp scores in City comfortable victory. Similar to bad weather hit the north-west the previous evening, City swept Manchester United away at the Etihad Stadium. It was a statement three goal victory for their manager's side owing to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a display that firmly established their title credentials as they consolidated their place at the league summit. Back-to-Back Setbacks for United This outcome represented successive Women's Super League losses for Marc Skinner’s side for the maiden instance since last May, placing them seven points off the league leaders with their trophy ambitions severely dented. Manchester United's capability to balance league and European soccer with a thin team has been a frequently analyzed issue since they qualified for the European competition. Looking at the calendar, it always appeared this was the week that would seriously challenge this ability. Regrettably for the away side, they looked tired all game, the historic win against the French side clearly having had an impact. Team Changes Marc Skinner had sought to make changes with a several adjustments. Ella Toone, Terland, Dominique Janssen and Galton all brought vigor, although the exclusion of the on-form Malard to the sidelines raised a few eyebrows. City, in comparison, have no such workload worries. The City coach made one adjustment from last week’s win over Everton with Hemp making her return to the lineup since healing from a physical setback. Overpowering Start The pressure started to gather for the United boss and his team from the kickoff. This was a show of the quality from City whose energetic attack played with and tore United open with a superb initial 45 minutes showing that saw them net a trio in under half an hour. This placed City completely dominant and left United all at sea. Prior to this encounter, United had let in just a handful in this WSL season but they collapsed in the wake of the hosts' creative prowess. Opening Threats The early indicators came quickly when Vivianne Miedema used her strength to muscle Zigiotti off the ball, only to send her shot off target. Lauren Hemp was at the center of everything early on, exploiting the space left by Riviere down United’s wing. Her crosses were posing a threat and led to an attempt for Yui Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg kicked off the line. The Red Devils had multiple sorties forward, their long-ball tactic giving them choices in the wide areas but they could not trouble Yamashita. Manchester City, meanwhile, commanded the ball, taunting their opponents and trying to lure them of their structure. Triple Strike They made their pressure count with almost half an hour played when Fujino won the hosts a corner. A delivery to the back post was nodded across goal by Shaw for Knaak to score. It was Manchester City's 7th headed goal of the campaign. They extended their cushion with another pair of goals just before the half-time. When Jade Rose was allowed to maraud through the midfield from the back, the field widened for City. The influential Kerstin Casparij received possession on the right before delivering a precise driven ball for Shaw to tap home. Shortly later, they had a third after a swift change in possession saw Lauren Hemp allowed the room to fire a effort home from outside the box. Second Half The most obvious substitution came from the United manager at the interval as Malard entered for Terland but by this time it was too late to change the course of the contest. Ex- City player Park came closest, hitting the upright, but the away team were lacking in ideas and failed to register a single shot on target. The hosts, on the other hand, could have added to their advantage when a excellent Miedema through ball sent Bunny Shaw away only for her to miss the chance but it did not affect the result to the winning team. Previously unable to defeat any opponent who placed above them the previous campaign, the manager's side now have wins against Arsenal and Manchester United to put them in a favorable position after the opening fixtures.