Manchester City v Manchester United: Women’s Super League - live

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

12 min: Sandberg wins a corner for United off Fujino. Zigiotti’s ball is cleared out to Miyazawa and her volley is blocked by Hemp, who catches it right on the forehead. The England winger is receiving treatment after she stayed down.

Share

10 min: Hemp drives down the City left again and cuts the ball back for Shaw but Janssen gets out to block the shot. Still a bit ropey from United.

Share

9 min: Hemp looks to release Miedema down the left but Le Tissier comes across to put the ball out. It’s the centre-back’s 122nd consecutive start in the WSL for Brighton and United.

Share

7 min: United try to get a foothold in the game and win a corner that comes to nothing. Any possession will do for them at the moment.

Share

5 min: Hasegawa is denied on the line! Hemp’s ball picks out the Japan international at the back post and she prods the ball goalwards but it’s stopped on the line by a defender.

Share

4 min: City hit the post! Miedema shrugs off Zigiotti, cuts inside and her low shot clips the outside of the post with Middleton-Patel rooted to the spot.

Share

3 min: Hemp causes more problems for the United defence, fronting up Riviere and floating a ball to the back post where Shaw just can’t on the end of it.

Share

1 min: Very early scare for United. Fujino whips a ball in from the right and Hemp almost gets on the end of it at the back post. Riviere is able to clear.

Share

Updated at 08.38 EST

Kick-off

Vivianne Miedema of Manchester City gets us under way.

Share

Kick-off is nearly upon us. The teams walk out in front of a healthy crowd at the Etihad. It’s derby time!

Share

Updated at 08.36 EST

Manchester United’s captain, Maya Le Tissier, is the stepbrother of Bournemouth’s Alex Scott, who is in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the first time. I have to confess that I did not know this. The pair grew up in Guernsey and Scott has been speaking about their childhood in football:

Growing up, we would fly over every weekend together. She’d have her games, for Hampshire, and I’d be playing for Southampton as a kid.

Every weekend, one of our parents and ourselves were flying over. It took a lot, especially for our parents, the amount of money they were paying and the amount of dedication they put in too for us to dream to be footballers. It’s a credit to them.

We’re just happy now we’re both playing at the top level. Obviously she’s flying for Man United and for the Lionesses as well, so I can be proud of her as well.

Share

Lauren Hemp has been speaking to City’s media channels pre-match:

United are a quality side. We’ve got so much respect for them. They’ve done well this season. I think today will come down to who wants it the most and hopefully we can bring as much quality as we can. In the tough moments we’ve got all the fans behind us and it’s so special it being at home. We’re in this together and so hopefully we’ll get the job done.

Share

United come into this one off the back of beating PSG in the Champions League in midweek but Marc Skinner’s side took their eye off the ball last weekend in a 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa. They are four points behind their city rivals and, as Jeglertz suggested this week, are expected to challenge for what would be their first WSL title.

Share

Manchester City are absolutely flying right now. Since losing to Chelsea in the WSL’s opening game, they have won seven in a row and sit above the defending champions at the top of the table.

Andrée Jeglertz, who is looking to deliver City’s first league title since 2016, today gets his first taste of the Manchester derby.

“This is the biggest game so far, I would say,” Jeglertz said this week. “I’m really looking forward to it, to play in that stadium in front of our home fans and also with the precision we have as a team right now.

“United are a great team. I think they have done very well, both in Champions League but also in the league. They are definitely going to be in top of the league to compete with the other teams that have the right to win the league. They will definitely be a contender to that.”

Share

“One of the hardest decisions.” That was how Jess Park summed up swapping City for United this summer after making 122 appearances for the club, her first coming at the age of 16. The attacking midfielder went in search of more game time under Marc Skinner and her ambitions have been rewarded.

In eight appearances, including six starts, in the WSL, she has scored four and set up another two. She earned an England recall in October but had to pull out because of concussion. Ella Toone has particularly enjoyed playing alongside Park.

“She awoken players around her,” Skinner said this month. “She adds another skill set that brings out the best in others … Look at the way Toone started the season. Her and Jess have a special relationship – they come to life together.”

Share

Jess Park starts for United against her former club. Grace Clinton, the other half of the summer swap deal, is named on the bench for City.

Elsewhere for United, Safia Middleton-Patel continues to deputise in goal for the injured Phallon Tullis-Joyce. Melvin Malard and Fridolina Rolfö have to make do with a place on the bench after their goals against PSG in midweek.

As for City, Lauren Hemp makes her first start since September after recovering fully from an ankle injury, coming in for Iman Beney in the only change from the team that beat Everton last weekend.

Share

Confirmed lineups

Both coaches have named their starting XIs:

Man City (3-4-2-1): Yamashita; Rose, Knaak, Ouahabi; Casparij, Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa, Hemp; Fujino, Miedema; Shaw

Subs: Keating, Clinton, Coombs, Wienroither, Lohmann, Beney, Prior, Thomas, Oldroyd

Man Utd (4-1-4-1): Middleton-Patel; Riviere, Le Tissier, Janssen, Sandberg; Miyazawa; Park, Zigiotti, Toone, Galton; Terland

Subs: Rendell, Blundell, George, Awujo, Naalsund, Rolfo, Griffiths, Malard, Williams

Share

Updated at 08.34 EST

Preamble

It’s derby day in Manchester as two of the form teams in the WSL this season go head to head at the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City are top of the league and on a seven-game winning streak since losing their season opener at Chelsea. Manchester United are only four points behind them and have won five of their last six matches in all competitions, including the Champions League victory against Mary Earps’s PSG on Wednesday.

This fixture produced 10 goals across two league games last season – Ella Toone’s hat-trick in a 4-2 away win for United still fresh in the memory from January. The last derby in May, at Old Trafford, ended in a 2-2 draw as United held on for a point after being reduced to 10 players.

Let’s hope for more drama today in this 1.30pm (GMT) kick-off. Get in touch with your thoughts – on the game or the WSL title race, perhaps – or with your favourite Manchester derby moments.

Share

Updated at 08.07 EST

Click here to read article