Tag: Manchester City Women

Categories
FA Cup

Adobe Women’s FA Cup Final Match Preview: Brighton & Hove Albion vs Manchester City 

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Wembley Stadium Arch | photo taken from @wembleystadium on X

After a two-week break from the Women’s Super League, the biggest game in the calendar returns to Wembley Stadium, rounding off the 2025/26 season. Brighton reached the final for the first time in the club’s history but for Manchester City their last success in the competition was in 2020, and will return to Wembley for the first time in four years. 

Last time they faced each other: 

They faced each other in the Women’s Super League where Brighton won 3-2, ruining the leaders early title celebrations. Goals from Madison Haley and Kiko Seike helped the seagulls get the three points against the eventual winners as Kerolin and Khadija Shaw helped reduce the deficit. 

Starting 11’s from that game: 

Brighton: Nnadozie, Rule, Hayes, Minami, Vanegas, Seike, Cankovic, Symonds, Olislagers, Kirby, Haley. 

Manchester City: Yamashita, Casparij, Rose, Knaak, Greenwood, Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa, Fujino, Kerolin, Hemp, Shaw. 

Brighton & Hove Albion: 

Last Game in the FA Cup: The Seagulls came from behind against Liverpool, away from home as they won 3-2 with substitute Nadine Noordam scoring the winner in the fifth minute of added time. Liverpool were 2-0 up within 22 minutes with goals from Denise O’Sullivan and Beata Olsson but goals from Manuela Vanegas and Madison Haley helped them get to 2-2. 

Starting 11: Nnadozie, Vanegas, Minami, Hayes, Rule, Olislagers, Cankovic, Symonds, Kirby (Noordam 89’), Seike, Haley. 

Unused Subs: Baggaley, Mpome, Kafaji, Rayner, Tvedten, Camacho, McLauchlan, Tsunoda. 

Form and Route to the FA Cup Final: 

Brighton came in during the fourth round proper, hosting Nottingham Forest from WSL2, winning 2-0 before drawing West Ham United away from home. They then won 2-1 against their WSL oppositions in the fifth round proper, and moved onto the quarter final stages. They then travelled to Arsenal where the home side was expected to win, with Brighton being the underdogs of the fixture. They won 2-0 and were later drawn out against Liverpool.  

Celebrations in the Semi-final versus Liverpool | Photo taken from @bhafcwomen on Instagram

Manchester City: 

Last Game in the FA Cup: Coming from behind against Chelsea, the Cityzens won in extra time after goals from Mary Fowler and Khadija Shaw forced it into an extra 30 minutes. Opening goals from Erin Cuthbert and Sam Kerr forced Manchester City to find goals in hope for a double success, with Khadija Shaw scoring the winner in the 103rd minute. 

Starting 11: Keating, Rose, Greenwood ©, Ouahabi (Fowler 85’), Casparij (Beney 66’), Hasegawa, Blindkilde Brown (Lohmann 99’), Hemp, Clinton (Fujino 66’), Kerolin (Coombs 120+3’), Shaw (Murphy 120+3’). 

Unused Subs: Cumings, Wienroither, Prior. 

Form and Route to the FA Cup Final: 

Manchester City also came in during the fourth round proper where they travelled to AFC Bournemouth from the FAWNL who were having a good run prior. The WSL side won 6-0 and were drawn against WSL2 outfit Sheffield United, in front of their home fans. The side won 4-0 and then was drawn away against another WSL2 side in Birmingham City, winning 1-0 and later playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. 

Grace Clinton in their last FA Cup clash versus Chelsea | Photo taken from @mancitywomen on Instagram

Categories
WSL

Knaak’s last grasp header sealed three points for City in tight race for the title 

Rebecca Knaak’s header | photo taken from @mancitywomen on X

Rebecca Knaak’s Injury time header sealed all three points for the league leaders after a tight game throughout. Heading into the final day, all Manchester City need to do is win against West Ham to win their first league title since 2016. 

Manchester City got the 90 minutes underway but Liverpool saw the opening few chances including one from Aurelie Csillag just three minutes in. Her header from close range just fired over the bar but just 16 minutes in, Liverpool had another chance. They continued to pile on the pressure as Jenna Clark was next to have a header with hers also going over the crossbar, after 16 minutes. 

League leaders’ Manchester City had their first chance in the 26th minute as Lauren Hemp crossed the ball in from the left hand side, finding Bunny Shaw in the box but the shot went wide. In the 30th minute, there was the exact same movement but this time with Kerstin Casparij on the right side, finding Bunny Shaw in the box – her effort was also fired high. 

One more chance came in the final few minutes of the first half as with two minutes to go of normal time, Aurelie Csillag for Liverpool had a strike just inside the box but fired it over the bar, like many others. 

Half-time: Manchester City 0-0 Liverpool 

Manchester City started the second half brightly and how they meant to go on with multiple chances coming from Lauren Hemp in the opening five minutes of the half. Her first effort came in the 48th minute but found the hands of Jennifer Falk in the Liverpool net, with her second effort coming just two minutes later. The second attempt went straight in front of goal, failing to find anyone in the sky blue shirt. After many attempts in the next ten minutes, Kerolin had her own chance but Falk got her hands to it again and tipped it over the bar. 

Liverpool had some chances back to back both from Ceri Holland in the 74th and 76th minute, after their first substitution of the game – with both heading over the bar. Just two minutes after the last two, Aoba Fujino for Manchester City had her own chance, but had a similar action to Ceri Holland’s just that few minutes earlier. 

Six minutes were added at the end, which proved to be just right for Manchester City as just one minute in, Rebecca Knaak scored another header in the league. The defender’s effort went into the back of the net after a corner from Alex Greenwood found her from close range in the box. 

Full time: Manchester City 1-0 Liverpool 

What’s next for the sides: 

Final day looms in the WSL with Manchester City finishing their campaign away against West Ham with Liverpool hosting Arsenal, both on Sunday 16th May. Prior to the WSL finale, both are in with a chance of heading to the Adobe Women’s FA Cup Final. Manchester City visit Chelsea on Sunday 10th May with kick-off at 3:30PM BST and Brighton travel to Liverpool for a 12:15PM kick-off on the same day. 

How the teams looked: 

Manchester City: Yamashita, Greenwood ©, Knaak, Rose, Casparij, Hasegawa, Coffey, Hemp, Kerolin (Coombs 96’), Fujino (Fowler 84’), Shaw. 

Unused Substitutes: Beney, Blindkilde Brown, Clinton, Keating, Murphy, Ouahabi, Prior. 

Goals: Rebecca Knaak (90+1’) 

Yellow Cards: Greenwood (32’), Sam Coffey (42’) 

Liverpool: Falk, Bernabe, Fisk ©, Clark, Shimizu (Bergstrom 69’), Nagano, O’Sullivan, Holland (Woodham 88’), Olsson, Enderby, Csillag (Josendal 82’) 

Unused Substitutes: Evans, Kirby, MacLean, Shaw, Trueman. 

Yellow Cards: Fuka Nagano (51’), Ceri Holland (71’)

Categories
FA Cup

Women’s FA Cup Match Preview: Manchester City vs Sheffield United 

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Adobe Women’s FA Cup action returns this weekend and the fifth round kicks off as Sheffield United from the WSL2 head to the Joie Stadium and face Manchester City on Sunday (22nd February) at 2pm. 

Last Game: 

They last faced each other in January 2023 with the home side winning 7-0 after goals from Deyna Castellanos, Chloe Kelly, a Julie Blakstad brace and a Bunny Shaw hat-trick. Prior to that, they faced each other only in the League Cup with wins for City in both (6-0 and 4-0). 

Starting 11’s from that day: 

Manchester City: Roebuck, Aleixandri (Casparij 68’), Kennedy, Greenwood, Ouahabi, Hasegawa (Houghton 68’), Angeldahl (Fowler 68’), Castellanos, Kelly, Blakstad, Shaw. 

Sheffield United: N.Wilson, Newsham, Barker ©, Hartley, Riglar, Cusack, Rayner (Muir 62’), Paul, Enderby (Walters 69’), Wilcock (Haywood 46’), E.Wilson. 

Manchester City:

Last Game in the FA Cup: Manchester City last faced Bournemouth in the fourth round, winning 6-0 away from home. Goals from Bunny Shaw, Lauren Hemp and braces from Laura Coombs and Vivianne Miedema secured the win for the blues and they headed to the next round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup. 

Starting 11: Keating, Rose (Prior 56’), Knaak (Greenwood 46’), Ouahabi, Beney (Casparij 71’), Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa, Hemp (Murphy 46’), Coombs ©, Clinton, Shaw (Miedema 56’). 

Unused Substitutes: Cumings, Thomas, Adedini. 

Form in all competitions: Manchester City have been in great form in the last five matches – 3 wins and 2 losses in all competitions. Their most recent win came at home against Leicester as they ran out 6-0 winners after their 1-0 loss against Arsenal the week prior. After losing 1-0 to Chelsea in the League Cup semi-finals, they won 5-1 in the league fixture less than 2 weeks later with a 2-1 win away against London City Lionesses between the two. 

Words from Andree Jeglertz’ press conference: 

Speaking to the media, he said that Mary Fowler could be in line for some minutes after suffering some setbacks since returning to full fitness. He also spoke about approaching the game like any other game, with no suggestion of taking the Blades challenge lightly: “We feel there are still things we can do a little better and things we want to improve. Even though we’re in a great place and feel places to grow in.”

Sheffield United:

Last Game in the FA Cup: They last faced Ipswich away from home in the fourth round of the cup, winning 2-1. A brace from Charlie Devlin helped the blades secure their place against Manchester City. 

Starting 11: Rogers, Cowan, Lafayette, Kinzett (Butler 82’), Andrews, Devlin (O’Rourke 85’), Aherene, Bristow, Thomas (Phillips 90’), Rouse, Reavill. 

Unused Substitutes: Parker-Smith, Thompson, King. 

Form in all competitions: United have won one, drawn one, and lost three in the last five games in all competitions. The three losses and a draw makes them sit 10th in the league with 13 points and 3 points ahead of bottom of the league, Portsmouth. 

Categories
WSL

Sixth Sense for Manchester City against bottom of the league, Leicester City 

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photo taken from @mancitywomen on instagram

Goals from Khadija Shaw, Yui Hasegawa, Aoba Fujino, Kerolin and a Vivianne Miedema double secured all three points. After 14 league wins (including this one), it puts them 11 points clear of rivals, Manchester United with six league games remaining. 

Manchester City started positively out of the blocks with multiple chances from Bunny Shaw being saved from Leicester City Goalkeeper Olivia Clark. Chances continued to come until the first goal 22 minutes in, with efforts from Lauren Hemp, Sam Coffey, Bunny Shaw, Kerstin Casparij and Vivianne Miedema all finding wide of the goal. 

22 minutes in, a diving header from Bunny Shaw caused the start of a goal-scoring rampage from the hosts, after the cross from Lauren Hemp on the left side found Bunny in the box and breezed it past Clark in net. 

After chances from Kerolin and Alex Greenwood in the blue of Manchester City, Vivianne Miedema found the two goal cushion six minutes after the first goal. Just outside the 18 yard box, she cut it across, and fired it into the bottom left side of the net. 

Although it was predominantly Manchester City, the visitors did have a couple of chances from Alisha Lehmann but Ayaka Yamashita did well to keep them out of it. Chances continued to come for Bunny Shaw after her and Lauren Hemp were comfortable with the ball but nothing came from then until another Vivianne Miedema goal 36 minutes in. 

She saw the cross from Lauren Hemp on the left side with her head finding the ball, and firing it past Clark in the Leicester net. Just two minutes later, Yui Hasegawa made it 4-0 after a cross from Kerolin on the right side found Hasegawa in the box and her first time attempt looped over Olivia Clark. 

Half-time: Manchester City 4-0 Leicester City 

Right off the blocks in the second half saw a fifth for Manchester City just three minutes after the restart from Kerolin. Her first-time effort from outside the box found the top left corner after the initial shot from Vivianne Miedema was blocked. 

Chances for the home side kept coming in following the first goal of the half with Aoba Fujino rounding off the scoring in the 66th minute. After pressure on Leicester, the effort went past the keeper and slotted into the back of the net and just minutes later, even had another shot on target. 

Both Home and Away sides saw chances in the final 20 minutes including Leicester looking to reduce the demolition with chances from Noemie Mouchon, hitting the top netting twice. They ultimately saw their 10th loss of the season, with Manchester calling home a fortress after scoring 22 and conceding two in the last five games.  

Full-time: Manchester City 6-0 Leicester 

What’s next for the sides: 

City remain at home as they welcome WSL2 side Sheffield United in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, on 22nd February. For Leicester, they now have a full month off with their next game being away from home against Liverpool on 15th March in the league. 

How the teams looked: 

Manchester City: Yamashita, Rose, Greenwood © (Ouahabi 58’), Shaw, Miedema (Clinton 58’), Hemp, Kerolin (Fujino 58’), Coffey (Blindkilde Brown 77’), Casparij (Beney 77’), Hasegawa, Knaak. 

Unused Substitutes: Keating, Coombs, Lohmann, Prior. 

Goals: Shaw (22’), Miedema (28’, 36’), Hasegawa (38’), Kerolin (48’), Fujino (66’).  

Leicester City: Clark, Kees (Ale 69’), Van Egmond, Mouchon, Lehmann (Williams 59’), Thibaud, Mayling, McLoughlin, O’Brien (Payne 59’), Neville ©, Swaby.

Substitutes: Keane, Goodwin, Cain, Ayane, Walne. 

Yellow Cards: Neville (62’) 

Categories
WSL

Match Preview: Manchester City Women vs Leicester City Women  

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photo taken from @lcfcwomen on instagram

Manchester City host Leicester City on Friday (13th February) as they look to go back to their winning streak after their loss against Arsenal last Sunday. The hosts currently sit top of the league with 39 points, winning 13 and having two losses (against Chelsea and Arsenal respectively). Meanwhile for the visitors, Leicester City, they currently sit bottom of the table with a game in hand and on nine points (including two wins and three losses). 

Last time out: 

They last faced each other on 7th December at the King Power Stadium with Manchester City winning 3-0 on the day after goals from Kerolin and a double from Bunny Shaw. 

Leicester City starting 11: Leitzig; Ale, Cayman, Boureille, Swaby, Thibaud (Las 85’), Eiriksdottir (van Egmond 35’), Tierney, McLoughlin (Ayane 85’), Cain, O’Brien (Goodwin 72’). 

Manchester City starting 11: Yamashita; Casparij, Rose, Knaak, Ouahabi; Blindkilde Brown (Clinton 64’), Hasegawa; Fujino, Miedema (Kerolin 69’), Hemp (Beney 89’); Shaw. 

The hosts, Manchester CIty: 

Last game: The side played Arsenal on Sunday losing 1-0 after a goal from Olivia Smith with the assist coming from Mariona Caldentey. After their loss, the gap now closes to eight points after Manchester United won against Leicester on the Saturday prior. 

The starting 11 versus Arsenal: Yamashita; Casparij, Rose, Knaak, Greenwood; Blindkilde Brown (Coffey 46’), Hasegawa; Kerolin (Beney 73’), Miedema (Clinton 96’), Hemp; Shaw. 

Substitutes: Coombs, Keating, Lohmann, Murphy, Ouahabi and Prior. 

Next five games (following this one): 

Sunday 22nd February: Sheffield United (H) – Women’s FA Cup 

Sunday 15th March: Aston Villa (A) – Women’s Super League 

Sunday 22nd March: Tottenham Hotspur (H) – Women’s Super League

Sunday 29th March: Manchester United (A) – Women’s Super League 

Sunday 26th April: Brighton (A) – Women’s Super League

Their form in the last five (all competitions): 

8/02 – Arsenal (A) – 1-0 Loss (WSL) 

1/02 – Chelsea (H) – 5-1 Win (WSL) 

25/01 – London City Lionesses (A) – 1-2 Win (WSL) 

21/01 – Chelsea (H) – 0-1 Loss (Women’s League Cup) 

18/01 – Bournemouth (A) – 0-6 Win (Women’s FA Cup) 

Andree Jeglertz’ comments prior to the game: 

After not being available for Arsenal, both Mary Fowler and Aoba Fujino return and are available this Friday. Fowler had a knock in training with Fujino following concussion protocols (after the Chelsea win) and he “expects both of them will be available on Friday…We had a full squad in training today except for those with long term injuries.” 

Team Photo | taken from @mancitywomen on X

The Visitors, Leicester City: 

Last game: Leicester hosted Manchester United on Saturday (7th February) with the visitors winning 2-0 after goals from Julia Zigiotti Olme and Elisabeth Terland. Ultimately, the visitors closed the gap to eight points on league leaders, Manchester City. 

Their squad versus Leicester City: Clark; Mayling, Kees, Swaby, Ale (Goodwin 89’), Neville; Cain (O’Brien 62’), Tierney, van Egmond, Lehmann; Williams (Mouchon 62’). 

Substitutes: Ayane, Keane, McLoughlin, Payne, Thibaud, Walne. 

Next five games: 

Sunday 15th March: Liverpool (A) – Women’s Super League 

Sunday 22nd March: Aston Villa (H) – Women’s Super League

Sunday 29th March: Brighton (H) – Women’s Super League 

Sunday 26th April: London City Lionesses (A)  – Women’s Super League

Wednesday 29th April: Arsenal (A) – Women’s Super League 

Their form in the last five (all competitions):  

7/02 – Manchester United (A) – 2-0 Loss (WSL) 

25/01 – West Ham (H) – 1-2 Loss (WSL) 

18/01 – Tottenham Hotspur (A) – 3-0 Loss (Women’s FA Cup) 

11/01 – Tottenham Hotspur (A) – 1-0 Loss (WSL) 

14/12 – London City Lionesses (H) – 1-0 Win (WSL) 

Comments from Rick Passmoor prior to the game: 

Speaking to the media ahead of the matchup, he spoke about having “13 players in and out of the medical room, one with a tear, two because of workload and others just with your mid-season care”. Many players have stayed out of contention with a number of different injuries: Denny Draper is on a workload management (back on grass and hopeful for a return in around four weeks), Celeste Boureille is October for a return (after an operation from an ACL injury sustained over Christmas), with Jutta Rantala returning to training in April. 

Janina Leitzig has recently been more involved in training on a modified training session and Emma Jansson would be looking to return from a hamstring injury in mid-March, but other than the long term injuries, he looks for a full squad.

taken from @LCFC_Women on X