Manchester United denied Chelsea of an early title win on Sunday with their 2-1 win over Manchester City. Thanks to a late winner from Lucía García, the Reds are still in the title race, which will now go down to the final game-week of the season.
With their win, United have also secured their place in the Champions League next season, and have all but ended City’s hopes of joining them.
The two sides met in the reverse league fixture with a tense 1-1 draw being played out in front of more than 44,000 fans in the Etihad Stadium.
Starting XIs
Manchester United
Earps; Battle, Blundell, Toone, Zelem (c), Galton, Ladd, Le Tissier, Turner, Parris, Russo
Manchester City
Roebuck; Greenwood, Houghton (c), Coombs, Kelly, Hemp, Angeldahl, Morgan, Ouahabi, Shaw, Hasegawa
Man United vs Man City — How it went
Less than two minutes into the tie, Man City’s Champions League dreams were already in doubt. A well-worked spell of play from the hosts saw Hayley Ladd put her side ahead with Ellie Roebuck unable to prevent the goal. Still reeling from conceding such an early goal, the Sky Blues struggled to find a foothold into the game. The remainder of the first half saw City at times unable to string together more than a pass or two.
The first half for the visitors was undoubtedly made worse as Roebuck received a straight red card for a clumsy tackle on Nikita Parris, after the City goalie rushed out of her area.
Embed from Getty ImagesMan City finally opened their scoring account for the evening in the second half. Filippa Angeldahl’s effort saw Mary Earps powerless to preserve her clean sheet with just over 20 minutes to play. But just as it seemed that Chelsea would get their hands on the WSL title for the third year running, Man United found an injury time winner.
García’s 91st minute goal will see the title race go to the final day with Man City’s top three spot all but out of reach.
What matches are next?
Manchester United will conclude their WSL campaign with a visit to Liverpool. Manchester City will play host to Everton as the league campaign reaches its conclusion.
