Manchester United boss Marc Skinner has gone strong with his team today. Whenever he has rotated this season it hasn’t really worked – and depth remains a big issue for this United squad, who have dropped off after a stunning start to the season.
The prospect of Jess Park, Melvine Malard, Ella Toone and Elisabeth Terland playing together in a fluid front four should be a really exciting one for United fans. It’s also a big boon for them to have Phallon Tullis-Joyce back in goal, as she returns from a fractured eye socket – she’ll play in a protective mask.
West Ham are without recently-capped England defender Anouk Denton, which could be a big loss. They’ve won just once in nine WSL outings this season.
Kerstin Casparij takes the captain’s armband for Manchester City at the King Power Stadium today. City can put a healthy six-point buffer between themselves and title rivals Chelsea at the WSL summit by beating Leicester today. Chelsea, of course, will be hoping to cut that lead – praying for a slip-up from Andrée Jeglertz’s team.
Belatedly, here’s how United will line up at the Progress with Unity Stadium, AKA Leigh Sports Village, at that slightly later kick-off time.
Manchester United: Tullis-Joyce, Sandberg, Le Tissier, Toone, Park, Malard, Terland, Riviere, Janssen, Zigiotti, Miyazawa.
The West Ham team has not yet been announced. It’ll be revealed here when it is.
And here it is …
West Ham: Szemik, Endo, Siren, Tysiak, Ueki, Nystrom, Martinez, Asseyi, Gorry, Morgan, Hanshaw.
Manchester United have announced that their game against West Ham will kick off at 12.15pm (GMT) – 15 minutes later than originally scheduled, because of “logistical issues affecting the arrival time of the visiting team”.
The clubs have apologised for any inconvenience caused to supporters by the late change in timings. Team news for that contest will follow.
Leicester v Manchester City
Leicester: Leitzig, Tierney, Boureille, Cayman, Ale, Eiríksdóttir, Thibaud, Cain, McLoughlin, O’Brien, Swaby.
Man City: Yamashita, Rose, Shaw, Miedema, Hemp, Ouahabi, Casparij, Blinkilde Brown, Fujino, Hasegawa, Knaak.
London City Lionesses v Brighton
London City: Lete, Fernández, Kumagai, Asllani, Linari, Godfrey, Parris, Goodwin, Imuran, Sangaré, Geyoro.
Brighton: Nnadozie, Vanegas, Minami, Kafaji, Symonds, Seike, Noordam, Hayes, Olislagers, Haley, McLauchlan.
Tottenham v Aston Villa
Tottenham: Kop, Bartrip, Nildén, Naz, England, Holdt, Vinberg, Hunt, Spence, Summanen, Neville.
Aston Villa: D’Angelo, Maritz, Patten, Deslandes, Grant, Kendall, Taylor, Maltby, Daly, Salmon, Hanson.
Welcome along to another packed Women’s Super League Sunday. These smorgasbords of midday starts are becoming quite the fixture in the WSL calendar nowadays and they’re usually lots of fun.
Today, Manchester United host West Ham at Leigh Sports Village, with Marc Skinner’s side looking to jump back into the top three with three points, while there are mid-table clashes between Spurs and Aston Villa, and London City and Brighton. Manchester City can (and very much should) extend their lead at the summit with victory at Leicester. Chelsea face Everton a little later, potentially looking to capitalise on any dropped points from City.
Let’s get right into it. Team news will follow.