Man City crush derby rivals to close on first WSL title in decade

Manchester City’s performance in the derby felt like a microcosm of their league-long performance: dominant, ruthless, impressive.

City, who need just two more wins to lift the Women’s Super League trophy for the first time since 2016, pressed hard from the off, Vivianne Miedema scoring twice in two minutes inside the first 20 minutes, before Kerstin Casparij added gloss to the scoreline with a third in the second half.

It is hard to believe that this was a game between two teams sitting first and second in the table at kick-off. City ran rings around United, controlling from start to finish in possession and intensity, while taking advantage of how scrappy United were in midfield and how careless they were in defence – Miedema was left unmarked in the six-yard box for both of her goals.

The next few weeks will surely include more glory days for City. The away section of Old Trafford was loud and lively throughout. The rest of the stadium? Not so much. There was a feeling of indifference in the air that was reflected on the pitch, perhaps due to how early on in the game those chances for City had arrived, or maybe because this derby sits in the middle of two huge Champions League quarter-final legs against Bayern Munich, with United looking to overturn a 3-2 deficit on Wednesday.

But for City, who do not have European football to worry about, the hunger from the players has been apparent from the start of their league campaign. They lost 2-1 to reigning champions Chelsea during a hard-fought visit to Stamford Bridge in the opening game of the season in September. The insatiable appetite has not dwindled since then. With the WSL trophy now within reach for the first time in a decade, where has the shift come from?

Their new head coach Andrée Jeglertz, the former Denmark national-team manager who was appointed ahead of the 2025-26 season, can take some credit. Speaking to the BBC at full-time, Manchester City captain Alex Greenwood said that working on their mentality has been huge for the squad this term.

“Everyone feels comfortable to be themselves and have their say in the dressing room,” she added.

City finished second in the WSL in the 2023-24 season, and fourth in 2024-25, 17 points behind the winners Chelsea.

Greenwood, 32, who has been at the club since 2020, said Jeglertz is “really understanding on a human level and that’s really important, ­especially with women”. And clearly, that mentality shift is working well for this group of players. City have had a dominant season, sitting clear at the top of the WSL table since before halfway through the campaign in December.

Their ability to create chances in attack has made way for some brilliant goals, particularly from Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, who has scored 18 goals in 18 games. In last week’s game against Tottenham Hotspur, the Jamaica international scored the quickest hat-trick in WSL history, in 13 minutes, as City beat Spurs 5-2.

To put Shaw’s goal count into perspective, she alone has scored more goals than Liverpool (17 from their first 18 games), West Ham United (15 from 18) and Leicester City (nine from 17) have managed as whole teams.

This season is also the first time that Miedema and Shaw have played together without the interruption of injuries, and their connection and timing through the lines has been clinical and brilliant to watch. Together, the pair are responsible for more than 50% of City’s total league goals (28 of 55) this season. Full-back Casparij has also excelled, and is top for assists this term with six.

As well as their goalscoring and intensity, it is City’s consistency that has been a crucial part of this season. This 3-0 win over United – the same scoreline as when they met in the league in November – is a neatly packaged reflection of that.

For Marc Skinner’s side, it’s a tough road to the end of the season. They play Tottenham and Chelsea away – the latter the final game of the season and a significant one for United, who travel to Stamford Bridge for a match that could decide which of the two teams gets to play European football next season.

A Champions League campaign without Chelsea would feel surreal. The 2020-21 finalists have become regulars in the competition, reaching the semi-finals in the past three seasons. But with their growing injury list, the rest of the season looks bleak for the club who have won the past six WSL titles.

As for United, while they have had an impressive first season in the Champions League, they are clearly struggling at the business end of the season, with the amount of game time they face posing too much of a challenge.

If Arsenal win their two games in hand, they’ll be within five points of Manchester City and put themselves in pole position to finish second and get that all-important second automatic Champions League qualifying spot.

So while those Champions League places may be up in the air, what’s clear is that Chelsea’s WSL reign is over. City, who have for so long been the bridesmaids, are preparing to become the brides again. Nothing borrowed, something new, and a different shade of blue.

Photograph by Alex Livesey/Getty Images