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25 minutes gone in three of these games now, with the only goal coming from Brighton’s Kiko Seike at London City.
Spurs have created the better openings against Aston Villa but have been unable to break through. The same can definitely be said for City at Leicester. They would have expected to score by now.
22 mins: Back at the King Power, Leicester have won their first corner of the game, with O’Brien almost poking home at the near post after a smart run to escape her marker. Wide.
United have started strongly against West Ham with Hinata Miyazawa whizzing the first chance of the game just past the post, possibly via a deflection. The Japanese midfield metronome is enjoying a really impressive season.
Penalty saved by London City’s Spanish goalkeeper, Elene Lete!
It was a sloppy tackle by Wassa Sangaré to concede the spot-kick, but Brighton’s Madison Haley – who was fouled to earn the penalty – could not find a way beyond a sprawling Lete. Still just 1-0 to the visitors.
18 mins: It feels like Leicester are growing into this a touch. They’ve been a bit sharper snapping into the tackles in the past few minutes and there is at least an outlet via centre-forward Shannon O’Brien.
City have to be a bit slicker to break them down.
United v West Ham is now under way.
Marc Skinner’s side cannot afford to lose any more points after a rocky run of recent form.
14 mins: City continue to build and Cayman is forced to bundle it away for a corner as Hasegawa tries to play through Hemp.
It’s pinball in the box after that corner and Bunny Shaw really should have made it 1-0 after the ball fell kindly to her. Goodness me, how has she put that wide?
10 mins: Janice Cayman will be key to defying City today and she does well to hold off Miedema deep into her own territory.
City still well on top at the King Power, with Leicester seeking to keep bodies behind the ball.
Rick Passmoor demanded determined defending from his Leicester troops before kick-off but we’ve not seen anything of the kind in these early stages. It seems like a matter of ‘when’ Manchester City score, rather than ‘if’.
GOAL! London City 0-1 Brighton (Seike, 6)
After a quiet start in Bromley in that game between the two middle-ranks, Kiko Seike breaks the deadlock for Brighton! It came from a rapid counter-attack.
4 mins: Another chance as City easily work it into the box from the left, with Vivianne Miedema turning but shooting straight at the Leicester goalkeeper, Janina Leitzig.
City are wearing their change strip, which is mostly grey with fluorescent socks. It’s a novel look.
2 mins: An early chance for Manchester City as a diagonal to the marauding Kerstin Casparij starts a move that ends with Bunny Shaw scuffing wide. Not the best defending from Leicester, there, leaving too much space in their own box.
KICK OFF
Leicester v Man City, Spurs v Villa and London City v Brighton all get off and running. Let’s do this thing.
“We’ve made this a fortress over the past few years,” Leicester boss Rick Passmoor tells Sky Sports before kick-off. “We know the fans here will back us and make a noise.
“It’s important that we’re resilient off the ball and deliver our game-plan from the first whistle. I want to show the true identity of Leicester City, so the minimum is the work rate and the togetherness, and to be ruthless in the final third when we get the opportunity.”
We’re going to start our coverage by focussing on Manchester City, the league leaders, and their clash at Leicester.
Remember United v West Ham will not kick off until 12.15. We’ll have updates and goal flashes from all the games, of course.
Sky Sports have asked a good few WSL stars what their favourite Christmas film is and it seems Home Alone is the majority pick. A film made in 1990 – before many of the players were born! That shows how the standard of Christmas films has dropped in the past 30 years.
Not much love for Love Actually, which is disappointing.
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.
Manchester United v West Ham team news
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.
Team news for matches at Leicester, London City and Spurs
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.
Preamble
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.
