Manchester City took another big step towards winning the Women’s Super League for the first time in 10 years with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford thanks to a double from Viviane Miedema and a goal from Kerstin Casparigi.
Andriy Jegratz’s side need a maximum of five points from their remaining three games to be crowned champions for the first time since 2016 after a dominant performance against their rivals, who are now officially out of the race.
Dutch international Miedema got the visitors back on track with two headers in just a few minutes of the first half (17th, 19th minute), then Kasparij put the result in doubt just after half-time when he met Lauren Hemp’s cross at the back post (49th minute).
Vivianne Miedema scored twice as Manchester City beat rivals Man United at Old Trafford.
Only Arsenal and Chelsea can currently catch up with City, but the WSL leaders will be confident of picking up the points they need from their remaining games against Brighton, Liverpool and West Ham, who make up four of the bottom five.
United looked lethargic for much of the game, perhaps unsurprisingly, as the defeat was the second time they have conceded three goals at Old Trafford in the past week, following Wednesday’s 3-2 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.
Mark Skinner’s side now face the challenge of remaining in the top three. Currently second in the table but only three points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, the Gunners will play Tottenham live on Sky Sports on Saturday night.
Jegratz: Squad depth is a great luxury.
City were boosted by the return of Ayaka Yamashita, Yui Hasegawa, Aoba Fujino and Mary Fowler from the Asia Cup for the trip to Manchester.
After the game, Jegratz said: “It’s a great luxury to have that kind of depth and with the injuries, that’s going to be important for us for the rest of the season.”
“But we also had players in the Asia Cup and they have stepped up. It was difficult to choose the line-up, but it has been good for the players. They are challenging each session.”
“If there are challenges in each session, it means my job becomes more difficult. It’s important to have that.”
Kerstin Casparigi scored Man City’s second goal just after the break.
Speaking about the match itself, the City manager said: “The first half was one of our best games of the season.
“When you look at the ability of these players to do this in these types of games and play with confidence and that belief, it’s amazing.
“I definitely enjoyed it and I wouldn’t say it was relaxing, but I felt we were in control of the game and the players were having fun and finding solutions to things. It was a great game.”
Skinner: ‘Champions League effort hurt us’
Manchester United manager Mark Skinner told BBC Sport: “I think it was just a slow start physically, because that’s where we are.”
“We are a team that gives everything. We had energy here last year against City, we had energy and they didn’t have energy. This is a game of energy.
“The quick turnaround from the Champions League was going to hurt us, but we knew that.”
