Achi news desk-
Key events
36 minutes: Tottenham come forward again with Vinberg coming into the area but Mannion clears.
34 minutes: Thomas is coming off with an injury, I hope she’s ok, and Graham is on.
33 minutes: If you blinked you could have missed Tottenham going forward it happened that quickly. Good control from Naz who took a touch and then blasted it past Earps. Thomas is down with an injury at the moment and so there is a break in play.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-2 Tottenham (Naz, 31′)
What’s happening?!
31 minutes: The goal came from a corner kick, it was a well worked move as Summanen went short and Vinberg found it in the area. Spence had such a skilful shot, it looked as if England would get a touch for her but she didn’t. United thought it was offside but the goal stands – no VAR here.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Tottenham (Naz, 29)
Spence rifled it in and what a shot it is!
28 minutes: Tottenham coming forward now and Thomas makes a good run down the right and crosses in but Earps clears from the air.
26 minutes: Parris drops an incredible pass, which he predicted was pure skill. Unfortunately Toone doesn’t connect and instead it reaches Galton who is offside.
24 minutes: Tottenham are in another good position but Vinberg beats him over the bar – Spurs need to take the chances because at the moment United are more clinical.
22 minutes: United have not taken their foot off the pedal, this time Le Tissier has a shot at goal but Spencer collects. The hosts come again and Malard has a shot, Spencer saves it but the keeper can’t keep hold of it but he does enough to recover before a United player can pounce on the rebound.
20 minutes: Zelem Thomas muscles off the ball to launch United’s latest attack. In a long build-up Toone puts it into the box and it comes to Parris but she sees it out for a goal kick.
18 minutes: Naz finds space and picks out Vinberg in a great position but her effort is wide – huge chance wasted.
16 minutes: Malard is the target again in the box as Galton crosses in but it is well read by Spurs, the French player is having a great game so far.
15 minutes: United have grown into this game, Tottenham were better early on but the hosts kept knocking on the door and the free kick was so precise to pick out Malard – well worked move ok Spurs may take the chances they didn’t take in the opening stages.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham (Malard, 13)
Naz gives away a free kick and Evans takes it, Malard makes a great run and goes home.
12 minutes: United come forward and Parris passes a peach of a ball to Toone but her effort is wide. Spence tries to clear but she misses out to Malard, her initial cross doesn’t find a teammate but the hosts come again. Parris has a shot but Malard is offside and so Spurs can clear the danger.
10 minutes: Naz gives away a free kick and captain Zelem takes the set piece. The distribution is good but Tottenham are doing well to pin it down and get it going.
8 minutes: Parris gets a good cross in but Thomas clears, the United forward is the hosts’ best threat in this game so far.
6 minutes: England passes a great ball to Thomas but Evans tracks back and sees it out for a throw – the visitors have had a much better start here. The throw sees it passed to England who launches it into the box but it is easily cleared. United look to break but Parris is fouled by Nilden. The free kick is taken quickly but Parris’ heavy touch allows Spurs to clear.
4 minutes: Vinberg has a good start to this game and is improving in defense as well as attack. United have their first spell on the ball now but Naz is doing so well to press them, the space they thought they had is being suffocated.
2 minutes: It’s been all Spurs so far and they had a great chance to open the scoring. Vinberg crosses a lovely ball for England but she fires it over the bar.
First kick! Manchester United 0-0 Tottenham
Here we go. An interesting encounter today with a preview of the Women’s FA Cup final in a few weeks time.
The players will be out soon at Leigh Sports Village, the last time Manchester United played at the stadium this season. They will play their last home game at Old Trafford against Chelsea in May.
Are you having a lazy Sunday? Is a roast in the oven while you keep up with today’s coverage? Let me know by email or X (@rendellx). I have a meal deal for my lunch so let me live vicariously through you!
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Manchester United beat Chelsea in the FA Women’s Cup semi-final and this was Emma Hayes’ side’s second win in as many weeks after losing the Conti Cup final to Arsenal. Chelsea had hurt those victories in their first leg of the Women’s Champions League semi-final against Barcelona. The Blues became the first team to beat Barcelona at home in five years, read the report:
Tottenham boss Robert Vilahamn said: “The mentality we have is on the next game, so the main thing is to have a good starting eleven, a good bench, a good game plan and try to beat Man Utd as we want to compete for the top four. Obviously, that is difficult as there are not many games left, but we have a chance and we should go for it in this game.”
Manchester United manager Marc Skinner he said of Tottenham: “All of a sudden you get that confidence and you go into a flow state. And I think they benefited a lot from that this year. I think what you have to do as a coach playing against that is try to disrupt that flow. If you disrupt the flow and get them thinking about how they have to play football, then you can disrupt their team cohesion, it changes and it adapts.”
The team news is here. Manchester United bring Nikita Parris back into the line-up after she was benched against Chelsea.
Manchester United:
Grace Clinton will miss the FA Cup final and today’s game as she cannot face her parent club.
Tottenham:
Introduction
Hello and welcome back to our coverage of the Women’s Premier League. First up today we have Manchester United v Tottenham in what will be the first of two times the teams will play each other in the coming weeks.
The two clubs will face off in the FA Cup final on 12 May where the competition will have a new winner. That means this week the teams will not only be looking to get three points to aid their league ambitions but they will also be dismissing the opposition standing in the way in terms of silverware.
In the WSL United are fifth and a win today would see them jump into the top four once again. The club’s hopes of Women’s Champions League football are most likely to go but finishing in the top four will now be their target.
Meanwhile, Tottenham are sixth and the three points would edge them closer to overtaking United in the table. We’ll look at what was said in the lead up to this one shortly but first let’s look at the team news.
