Louise Taylor's WSL roundup
Well done again to Man City, who succeeded in keeping pressure on the WSL leaders Chelsea by holding their nerve, maintaining their composure and digging out three points in the face of a determined, well-organised Everton rearguard effort. Thanks for reading today and see you again soon.
Simon Burnton has the Manchester derby, here, and live!
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Shout out to Willie Kirk, the Everton manager, for the way he set that team up today - and of course to all the players who performed admirably in keeping City at bay for so long. Their defending and their game plan was exemplary for 80 minutes before Walsh intervened with a touch of class.
FT. Just the one goal in it as we're narrowly beaten on the road.
— Everton Women (@EvertonWomen) March 7, 2021
🔵 1-0 🟡 pic.twitter.com/5yEtvJ45AV
Chelsea are currently winning 1-0 at West Ham, so presuming it stays that way, the gap at the top will stay at two points.
FULL-TIME | GET IN THERE! 💪@keira_walsh's late strike grinds out a HUGE three points in the @BarclaysFAWSL title race!
— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) March 7, 2021
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/HkTzfLv0HJ pic.twitter.com/EFaGO7gDlh
Full-time! Man City 1-0 Everton
Man City close the victory out, and take the three points thanks to Keira Walsh’s winner inside the final 10 minutes. The hosts take a ninth straight win in the WSL - but they were made to work exceptionally hard for it by a resolute Everton defence. The first half resembled a training exercise, with Everton sitting deep and soaking up pressure, and pulling off last-ditch tackles and blocks as and when necessary. The hosts missed a couple of good chances before the break, with the best falling to Mewis, and it looked like they may end the day frustrated - especially as Everton grew into the match considerably after the break. But to their credit, City kept going and it was a class finish by Walsh than won it for them. Lucy Bronze was very impressive but Chloe Kelly was outstanding, she was everywhere, and her tireless running and superb ability on the ball was a huge factor in this result.
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92 min: Everton pump the ball upfield now, going route one, looking for a late reply. But Man City hold firm. Greenwood wins two good headers, repelling two long punts from Everton ... now the visitors have a corner. Clemaron’s shot from the edge of the area is blocked and City win a free-kick.
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90 min: Four minutes of added time to be played. City are dominating the ball again and Everton now need a miracle to get anything from this match.
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87 min: Kelly, now deployed on the left, grabs another yard of space and hits a powerful shot from the edge of the area, but MacIver saves. Into the final couple of minutes ...
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85 min: Details of a double change for City made a few minutes ago, by the way:
68. Double City change...@sammymewy 🔄 @roselavelle @ellsbells89 🔄 @StanwayGeorgia
— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) March 7, 2021
💙 0-0 🔵 #ManCity | https://t.co/HkTzfLv0HJ pic.twitter.com/wzcg97ssIC
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Goal! 80min: Man City 1-0 Everton (Walsh)
Keira Walsh breaks the deadlock with a superb right-footed finish! Lauren Hemp tees up her teammate after running to the byline and then checking back on the right. She had time to assess her options and cuts a low ball back. Walsh is advancing into the penalty area and strikes a sweet shot, first-time, into the bottom corner. You cannot begin to argue that City don’t deserve that, given all their possession - but Everton had also been growing into the game second-half.
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78 min: Everton attack again and win a third corner in as many minutes. Could they? Emslie strikes a fine corner into the six-yard box and City manage to clear, just about. That could have dropped anywhere.
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75 min: Into the final quarter of an hour. Can someone find a breakthrough? The second half has been more even. Now Everton win a corner thanks to the efforts of Magill, on the right. And now they win another corner ...
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73 min: Gauvin off, with the former Man City player Claire Emslie coming on for Everton. Gabby George has also gone off for Simone Magill.
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70 min: Everton win the ball back high up the pitch, but Gauvin is caught offside as they try a quick counterattack. At the other end, are City growing frustrated at the quality of Everton’s defending?
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67 min: A ball bounces on the edge of the area. Caroline Weir tries to control with her left boot while Maéva Clemaron stoops to head it. Weir catches Clemaron with her boot, and she needs treatment, but thankfully it appears that she is OK to continue.
Georgia Stanway is on for City.
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63 min: By the way, Arsenal are 2-0 up on Birmingham City and Brighton and Spurs are drawing 0-0 at the moment. Chelsea, as stated, lead West Ham by a goal to nil after an early effort by Sam Kerr.
60 min: Everton are gradually growing into this match a little more. Christiansen wins a free-kick in midfield and affords herself a smile.
But Ellen White now storms down the right channel for City, one-on-one with the keeper, and has a clear sight of goal albeit from an angle. She strikes the ball firmly but it’s always going wide of the far post.
Greenwood then pumps a free-kick into the Everton box, in the next passage of play, but no one can get on the end of it. It’s goalless and if Everton can nick a goal from somewhere, it would be one of the great smash-and-grab raids.
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57 min: Keep dominating, as Steve McClaren once famously said. Although Everton don’t look that likely to ‘do an Iceland’ right now.
55. City still dominating but struggling to carve clear-cut chances.
— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) March 7, 2021
💙 0-0 🔵 #ManCity | https://t.co/HkTzfLv0HJ
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56 min: It’s early doors in the second half but so far Everton are not defending so deep - or being pressed back quite so much - as they were before the break. They have had a bit of possession of their own in the past couple of minutes.
52 min: Kelly nicks the ball off the toe of an Everton defender and darts goalwards yet again, but the ball runs away from her.
Elsewhere, Sam Kerr has scored for the leaders Chelsea at West Ham with just seven minutes on the clock. As it stands, with Chelsea winning and Man City drawing, Chelsea would end the day four points clear at the top. But there is plenty more football to be played yet.
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50 min: This time, it’s Bronze who is hugging the right touchline, and she fires in a good cross, which Kelly kills with a sublime first touch, and then cracks a right-footed shot from close range. But Everton won’t give it up that easily, and a body is in the way, yet again, to block the shot. There is so much quality on show on that right wing for City.
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48 min: Everton try to play out from the back, and get in a muddle. A pass from MacIver is charged down but the visitors escape with a throw-in deep in their own half.
46 min: City - you’ll never guess - attack early on in the second half. Kelly finds space again, bends in a good cross, again, and MacIver punches clear - again!
Second half kick-off!
Can City find a breakthrough? Can Everton snatch a goal on the break?
Thoughts on the match so far? Predictions for the second half? You can email me here or tweet @lukemclaughlin
Half-time! Man City 0-0 Everton
By my reckoning Everton have had three attacks in total, but they have been extremely impressive in their defending. Man City have dominated possession, and created one or two excellent chances, with Chloe Kelly in particular a constant threat on the right. Sam Mewis passed up the best chance of the half, side footing wide after a free-kick was deflected off the defensive wall. But my overriding reaction after that half of football is to take my hat off to a seriously well-drilled Everton defence. Back soon for more.
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45 min + 3: There is still time for Mewis to have a shot blocked.
45 min: Three added minutes and City have a corner. Kelly and Greenwood play the corner short. Kelly gets the back and swings another fine ball in, this time from the left. Houghton meets it at the far post with a header but her effort floats wide.
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44 min: Bronze clips a smart pass along the line to Kelly. Kelly rushes to control it, but is soon on the end of a full-blooded (but entirely fair) sliding challenge by Gabrielle George. Kelly ends up in a heap on the floor, but to her credit there is no complaint, after what she knows was a hard but fair tackle.
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43 min: Everton make a rare foray into the City half, and try to build an attack down the right, but it’s easily dealt with by the hosts, who can build from the back again.
40 min: Moe Wold is coming off, Everton’s second change of a first half in which they have had a ton of defending to do. Hayley Raso comes on with five minutes of the half remaining.
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37 min: A break in play while another Everton player, Moe Wold of Norway, receives treatment from the medical team. She is walking gingerly off now but there is no substitution made just yet. When play restarts, Rikke Sevecke gets an attempted defensive clearance completely wrong, succeeding only in an air kick, but Everton have a free-kick anyway.
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34 min: Walsh and Mewis play a one-two around the edge of the penalty area as City continue to press. Then Kelly finds yet more space on the right, and delivers another excellent cross, but yet again an Everton head is there to clear the ball. Everton’s defensive shape and organisation has been very, very impressive so far. They’ve had an answer to everything.
31 min: Bronze makes more inroads on the right, then slides a pass to Kelly out wide, who beats her marker with a lovely bit of skill and then smacks a fine cross which flashes into the six-yard box. An Everton head is there to clear though. More good attacking by City and more very accomplished defending from the visitors. Bronze then sends another good cross in from the right, which MacIver punches clear, and Mewis then hits a shot wide from distance.
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30 min: Shoulder to shoulder, and all square after half an hour at the Academy Stadium.
10' Battlin'. 👊
— Everton Women (@EvertonWomen) March 7, 2021
🔵 0-0 🟡 pic.twitter.com/9rHBbx9PJV
25 min: Bronze ghosts away from Lucy Graham and dribbles into the centre of the pitch. Graham tries to get back to cover but can only foul her opponent. Weir hits the resulting free-kick, which balloons off the wall, and Mewis has a golden chance to score from point-blank range, but she side foots it wide of the far post! That is the closest Man City have come after all that possession.
Everton’s Poppy Pattinson, meanwhile, has come on for Danielle Turner, and Turner looks devastated to have had to come off, presumably having picked up an injury.
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22 min: Keira Walsh finds a pocket of space in the final third and plays a pass centrally, looking for White, but it’s overhit. City are throwing players forward, with a front four pressing Everton back deep into their own area. Counterattacks are certainly the best Everton can hope for if the game continues like this.
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20 min: Bronze and Kelly link up yet again in an advanced position on the right. Turner, yet again, produces an excellent piece of defending for Everton with a strong tackle and City have a corner. But it is cleared by the Everton defenders.
17 min: Sprinting down the Everton right, Nicoline Sørensen does really well to get to the byline and cut the ball back into the danger zone. Valérie Gauvin opts to step over the ball, thinking a teammate will be on-rushing around the penalty spot to apply a finish, but Mewis is there to intercept instead. Everton’s game plan seems clear: They know they are going to have to concede a lot of possession, but will not be afraid to hit on the break, especially by using the width of the pitch.
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15 min: It’s captain Steph Hougton’s 200th City appearance today - a superb achievement. City continue to hog possession, but have not found a real cutting edge - yet.
There it is... 👏
— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) March 7, 2021
2⃣0⃣0⃣ City appearances for @stephhoughton2!
Captain, leader, legend 💙
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/HkTzfLv0HJ pic.twitter.com/3xYp3IKpLj
12 min: The first meaningful attack by Everton sees Turner surging down the left channel now, chasing a long ball, but she’s just offside. Everton need to find an outlet up front here if they can.
10 min: Mewis now gets involved again, doing well to control a pass on the edge of the area and looking for Ellen White, who is lurking in the penalty area, with a clever scooped pass. That would have been a clear sight of goal for White but she can’t control the pass.
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9 min: A very solid piece of defending by Danielle Turner for Everton, denying Kelly a chance to run on to a searching pass on the right wing.
6 min: Kelly and Bronze link up well on the right, exchanging passes, and Bronze moves into the penalty area but can’t produce a telling delivery. City are having the lion’s share of possession and it looks only a matter of time before they create a clear opening. The Everton defenders are doing plenty of talking and are already looking a little stretched.
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4 min: Chloe Kelly tries to bend a cross in from the right, but it’s well blocked by the Everton defence, who will no doubt be expecting a busy afternoon. Lucy Bronze then gets on the ball in midfield as the hosts continue to knock the ball around under not too much pressure in the early exchanges.
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2 min: An early spell of possession for City, which ends around the halfway line as Caroline Weir is penalised for handball. Conditions in Manchester at the Academy Stadium look decent. Overcast, but decent for a game of football. Sam Mewis tries to get on the end of a long ball now but it’s overhit.
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First half kick-off!
Here we go.
The teams are out on the pitch and kick-off is seconds away ...
And we’re live ... sort of. A real-time audio feed has sprung up and hopefully we’ll have pictures forthwith! Kick-off is five minutes away.
In news of other WSL matches today, Man Utd are 3-0 up against Aston Villa, after Katie Zelem added the third goal in the 78th minute.
If you so desire, you can send me any thoughts on today’s match as follows: Email or Tweet @lukemclaughlin
“Stream starting soon,” says the FA Player, so let’s hope that means before kick-off at 2pm.
Teams
Man City: Roebuck, Morgan, Greenwood, Houghton (C), Bronze, Walsh, Weir, Mewis, Hemp, Kelly, White. Subs: Taieb, Keating, Mannion, Coombs, Stanway, Lavelle, Beckie, Davies, Dahlkemper.
Your City team to face @EvertonWomen 💙
— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) March 7, 2021
XI | Roebuck, Morgan, Greenwood, Houghton (C), Bronze, Walsh, Weir, Mewis, Hemp, Kelly, White.
SUBS | Taieb, Keating, Mannion, Coombs, Stanway, Lavelle, Beckie, Davies, Dahlkemper.
⚽ @HaysWorldwide
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/HkTzfLdpj9 pic.twitter.com/v0nOtjk8cv
Everton: MacIver, Moe Wold, Turner, Sevecke, George, Christiansen, Sørensen, Graham (C), Gauvin, Finnigan, Clemaron. Subs: Korpela, Boye-Hlorkah, Lehmann, Magill, Emslie, Stringer, Raso, Clinton, Pattinson.
🟡 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 🟡
— Everton Women (@EvertonWomen) March 7, 2021
📋 Today's starting XI to face City...#BarclaysFAWSL #UTT pic.twitter.com/OFF9UETewz
Team news coming up shortly - meanwhile, a spot of pre-match reading:
Preamble
Can anyone stop Manchester City’s winning machine rumbling forwards? Before this afternoon’s meeting with Everton they’ve won six in a row in all competitions and are on a victorious eight-match winning run in the WSL. In their previous three matches - including an impressive 3-0 Champions League win against Fiorentina in midweek - they’ve racked up 10 goals and three clean sheets. Win today, and they can hit the top of the virtual WSL table, at least, with the leaders Chelsea (who are two points ahead, 38 to City’s 36) kicking off at 3pm away to West Ham.
The Champions League qualification-chasing visitors Everton are not on a bad run themselves, beating Tottenham away in a five-goal thriller last time out, and currently on an unbeaten three-match which spanned the month of February. It promises to be a significant afternoon as the race for the WSL title heats up: kick-off is at 2pm and team news, pre-match reading and more is coming up.
