Manchester United host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon as the Women’s Super League enters its final month.
As it stands, the home side are top of the league on 47 points and hope to best the current Champions Chelsea who sit third, four points behind and two games in hand. Sandwiched in between are Manchester City who lie only one point ahead of the reigning champions, leaving Arsenal in fourth place.
Tottenham are also in a four-way fight but at the bottom end of the table in a desperate attempt to avoid relegation. Three points separate rock-bottom side Reading from ninth-place Spurs, with Leicester and Brighton in between, both of whom have a game in hand and sit just one point behind this weekend's visitors.
“I expect as much pressure on them, as there is on us every week,” started United manager Marc Skinner. “They’ve got to get points, they're in a relegation fight right now and so I’d expect a really fired-up team that's spearheaded by a forward like Beth [England] who has lots and lots of quality.
“They were stubborn and they tried to stop us playing but when we looked at it back and I watched without emotion, actually there was loads of room for us to play through and we just were not aggressive enough with the ball.
“And I think that we should have taken those opportunities to progress with the ball and I'd expect that from us in this game. I'd expect us to be aggressive, to take these last four games with as much aggression as we’ve ever hit before in our lives.”
Last time out it was a 2-1 win for the Reds - the action and drama reserved for 13 minutes, deep into the second half where Leah Galton gave United the lead. Beth England found the reply seven minutes later on the counter, only to be cancelled out by Molly Bartrip's own goal a minute later. Rounded off with Ella Toone’s dismissal from the game for a frustrated retaliation. “But, when Toony was off and we went down to 10 it was a real mature performance for us, we defended our box really well, and we were still energetic,” said Skinner.
“It will be a tough game but I think we’ve learned a lot.
“And anyone that comes to our home ground should expect a very very difficult game and that's what we’ve got to prepare for,” he continued.
Manchester United welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Leigh Sports Village on Sunday, May 7, kicking off at 12:30 available to watch via BBC.
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