MATCH PREVIEW: MANCHESTER CITY V MANCHESTER UNITED IN THE FA CUP SEMI-FINALS
written by joel
Will City find joy at the Joie? Aemu Oyama first start?
It feels good to not be playing Chelsea, doesn’t it?
Manchester City will face Manchester United for the third time this season at the Joie
Stadium on Sunday afternoon. This time it’s the FA Cup semi final to book a place at
Wembley to play checks notes… probably Chelsea.
It has not been a good season for Manchester City and one of the few positives has been
the performances in the cups. From the performance against Barcelona on the opening day
of the Champions League, the last gasp winner away at Arsenal to the brave away
performance against Sunday’s opponents where young Lily Murphy shone bright, City have
found joy in the cup games in a season where otherwise joy has been fleeting. Speaking of
positives, this is the first Manchester Derby of the season with no Chloe Kelly drama. We
hope her ankle is better now.
The Teams
Interim manager Nick Cushing will be looking to turn around City’s fortunes in his 6th game
of his current spell after recent results. Manchester City have won 2 of their last 5 games,
one being the first leg of the Champions League tie they eventually lost on aggregate and
the second being a resilient performance on the south coast against Brighton. The
performances against Chelsea, aside from the away game at Stamford Bridge and the
second half at the Etihad, have been encouraging but the results have been anything but.
Manchester United, on the other hand, come into this game in good form having won 4 of
their last 5 games in all competitions. They have played Aston Villa, Sunderland, Leicester
and Everton and won each of those games by a 2 goal margin. Their only setback was a 3-1
away to Liverpool, a game in which they started well but let the game slip out of their reach.
If the 2 meetings between these sides are anything to go by, Sunday’s game will not be one
to miss. The first was a loss at the Etihad where CIty were overwhelmed by United’s
aggressive woman to woman press. City’s young goalkeeper Khiara Keating grabbed the
headlines because her mistakes ended up being decisive but no one in sky blue fared any
better. Keating got her redemption in the second game and had a strong showing in a hostile
environment away at Leigh Sports Village particularly because City adjusted and didn’t give
them anything to press by going long more and playing less in their half.
Injury News
City are without Laura Blindkilde-Brown (out for the season, ankle ligament injury), Ayaka
Yamashita (“a few weeks”, unknown injury). Vivianne Miedema picked up a hamstring injury
while playing for the Netherlands. Nick Cushing was very coy about the long term absentees
Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood which suggests that City are being cautious with
phasing them in. The game comes too early for Bunny Shaw and Aoba Fujino.
Prediction
City have a strong record at the Joie Stadium this season with their only loss there being to
Arsenal. It was a similar game to the first derby in a lot of ways — having to claw back a goal
deficit because of early goals conceded from mistakes against a press. As a result, I expect
United to be fairly aggressive in their press and try to force mistakes early before the game
settles. For City it will be about how to deal with the press.
It is likely neither Miedema nor Shaw are available for this game so it will most likely be Mary
Fowler starting up front. Kerolin is in good form and the game most likely comes too soon
for Fujino and Hemp so she will most likely be the starter. Casparij did well against Brighton
but I am backing Lily Murphy to complete the front three.
Laura Coombs didn’t play any international football over the break and she did well against
United last time around so she is very likely to start in midfield.
A first start for Aemu Oy… Who am I kidding? Yui Hasegawa starts her 33rd game of the
season in all competitions. That leaves one midfield spot. I would pick Jess Park to start
there because I think we will need dribblers against United’s press but Nick Cushing likes Jill
Roord so she starts.
In defense, Laura Wienroither starts at RB, Laia Aleixandri returns to the starting XI after her
injury setback against Brighton, Gracie Prior will retain her spot after a strong showing in
recent games and Ouahabi who started both of Spain’s games over the break to be on the
bench for Casparij.
Predicted XI
Keating
Casparij, Aleixandri, Prior, Wienroither
Roord, Hasegawa, Coombs
Murphy, Fowler, Kerolin.
Predicted Score
Manchester City 6 - 1 Manchester United.
