We have lost just twice and drawn on three occasions since United arrived in the Barclays Women’s Super League for the 2019/20 campaign.
Five of those victories have come in the WSL, with two wins in the FA Cup and another in this term’s Continental Cup.
City 3-1 Manchester United | Match report
In total, we have scored 27 goals against our local rivals and conceded just 15.
Saturday’s win saw Jess Park score a brilliant brace as well as Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw become City’s record goalscorer with her 68th strike in our colours.
With four goals, Shaw is now level with Ellen White, Caroline Weir and Lauren Hemp in terms of goals in this particular fixture.
The victory in front of more than 40,000 fans at the Etihad Stadium was largely owing to a much more prolific nature in front of goal.
Several of the key metrics were quite similar.
We had 53% possession, completing 404 accurate passes, and United were just behind on 47% with 330 successful passes.
Both sides had 15 shots each, with City having five on target and United four. We also had to work hard defensively, making more blocks, clearances and saves than our visitors.
We made seven blocks to United’s four, 25 clearances to 12 and four goalkeeper saves to two.
Pivotal Park
Perhaps the key difference between the sides on the day was the form of Jess Park.
At just 22 and playing in central midfield after spending most of her senior career so far on the wing, Park is excelling this season.
It was her two goals that set us on our way but she also played the crucial pass for Shaw’s strike too.
While that alone would be more than enough to be considered the key cog in any important victory, Park created a total of four chances for her team-mates.
She completed 40 of her 43 passes, had three shots on target and played more passes in the final third than any other player on the pitch with 26.
WSL stats so far this season
Bunny Shaw is four ahead of nearest challenger Lauren James in the race for this year’s Golden Boot, with 17 league goals to her name.
Our 43 goals overall in 17 games is second only to Chelsea’s 47 in 16 matches.
Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly and Jess Park all have four assists each, one behind a group of three players all with five.
Our 8,751 passes as a team is by far the most in the league, ahead of Chelsea on 8,053.
That all starts at the back with central defenders Alex Greenwood leading the individual metric on 1,259 and Laia Aleixandri third on 1,117.
At the back, we have conceded just 11 goals, meaning we have the strongest defence in the league.
Khiara Keating‘s seven clean sheets is the best too, with United’s Mary Earps on six and Chelsea’s Hannah Hampton on four.
