Miedema propels Manchester City closer to WSL title with derby double against United | OneFootball

The latest leg of Manchester City’s victory lap took them to Old Trafford and they did not simply show Manchester United why they are going to become the Women’s Super League champions. They tore them apart in the process, while also damaging United’s hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.

The away side’s symbolic 3-0 win at the home of their embarrassed neighbours demonstrated their vast superiority, and perhaps the only surprising thing was that they did not score more than Vivianne Miedema’s two headers and Kerstin Casparij’s far-post finish from a Lauren Hemp cross. It could easily have been five or six, with Hemp hitting the bar before a disallowed Rebecca Knaak goal, which left everybody in the stadium confused, in a first half when the visitors carved open the home defence with ease.

Marc Skinner, the Manchester United head coach, said repeatedly after the defeat that his side were suffering from “fatigue” after facing Bayern Munich three days ago. City have certainly been helped domestically by not playing in the Champions League this season and the extra midweek rest; this match sandwiched in between the two legs of Manchester United’s quarter-final against Bayern. Yet, even with fresher legs than a tired United, it was not supposed to be this easy. It was not supposed to look like there was such a wide chasm between the two teams.

Skinner also said the Manchester City head coach, Andrée Jeglertz, was in a “sweet spot” with his current squad depth, which Skinner claimed was a key advantage. A relaxed Jeglertz, meanwhile, described it is as “amazing to watch” his team play with so much confidence, adding: “The first half is one of the best halves we’ve done this season.”

It is now most certainly a matter of when, not if, City will win the title. This most satisfying of victories for Jeglertz’s side put them 11 points clear at the top, and needing a maximum of five points from their remaining three league matches – all of which are against teams in the bottom four – to clinch their first league trophy in a decade.

This result mathematically ended second-placed United’s own title chances; Skinner’s team have only three league games remaining. It also all but ended the defending champions Chelsea’s hopes, as they are 12 points adrift with a vastly inferior goal difference and only four games remaining, marking a significant end of an era after six consecutive titles. Arsenal remain the sole challengers, with three games in hand and 14 points to make up from six games prior to their Saturday evening kick-off at home to Tottenham.

Just like on Wednesday against Bayern, when United lost 3-2 on the same ground, they made a rather sleepy start, so much so that City almost took the lead after only 21 seconds, when an Alex Greenwood shot was saved by Phallon Tullis-Joyce. Inside the first 20 minutes, though, City had managed to scored twice through Miedema headers, the first from a curling Greenwood corner and the second from a Casparij cross which found an unmarked Miedema in acres of space, almost surprised by how slack the United defending was.

Hemp also bent a sumptuous curling effort from the edge of the area that struck the crossbar, before Knaak nodded in from a corner, the goal disallowed after Aoba Fujino was adjudged to have impeded the goalkeeper, but Casparij tucked in the third following a smooth break forward early in the second half.

The division’s top scorer, Khadija Shaw, was a constant threat with her movement and she had a great chance to make it 4-0 in stoppage time but fired narrowly wide. The City fans cared not, as they celebrated another milestone victory on their stroll towards the title, and the majority of the 24,983 crowd were left wondering how many more years it will be before United mount a serious title bid. In the shorter-term future, with difficult away trips to Tottenham and Chelsea still to come this season, staying in the European places does not look like an easy task.

Header image: [Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images/Reuters]