Manchester City breeze past Everton 3-0 in Women’s Super League

It is the week when Manchester City and Chelsea begin their journeys into the tournament which will tell them where they really stand with the galaxies of talent they have assembled.

And though Chelsea enjoy a gentle start to the new-look Champions League, against first-time entrants Benfica, Manchester City’s match in Gothenburg on Wednesday is about as tough as it could be in the round of 32.

The jeopardy of continental elimination arrives immediately. The group stages have been replaced with two-leg knockouts. But City will take new global stars Sam Mewis, Rose Lavelle and Lucy Bronze into the fray, and no longer do Lyon, recently beaten by PSG, look quite so untouchable. After the despair of defeat by Atletico Madrid in the past two seasons, there is a feeling around City that the semi-finals, at least, might be calling once again.

Manchester City swept aside a poor Everton side 3-0 in the Women’s Super League on Sunday 

And they built a little self-belief yesterday with an unimaginably comfortable win at a place which is usually so inhospitable. This game was over by half-time and, though Willie Kirk’s players did put up some second-half resistance, there was not much, all told. Everton vanished from the contest with barely a whimper.

It was with the two Gothenburg games in mind — part of a sequence of five games in 14 days, including Arsenal on Sunday — that manager Gareth Taylor had Mewis and Chloe Kelly warming City’s bench.

Yet Jill Scott’s first WSL start of the season provided a new kind of balance — something the side have often struggled for in a difficult first third of the campaign. The 33-year-old’s physical presence distracted and troubled Everton, drawing players away from Lavelle, who seized the space and ran the first half in front of the Everton area. Demi Stokes, offering pace and options from left back, was outstanding.

Ellen White (centre) opened the scoring with a towering header for City inside half an hour

This was not an elite playing environment. The surface was uneven and the floodlights were weak. Kirk and his players deserve better. Taylor asked his players to mix up their play because of the difficult pitch.

But it was the same aerial superiority that saw off Everton in last month’s FA Cup final which allowed Taylor’s players to wrap up the points before half-time, thanks to two goals in as many minutes.

First, Ellen White’s clever header from Caroline Weir’s cross from the left looped over Sandy MacIver. Then failure to deal with the corner Weir dumped into the six-yard box from the right saw Gemma Bonner head home again.

Kirk rued the loss of Rikke Sevecke, injured in training on Thursday. Everton’s defence always seems to suffer when the Dane is missing.

Defender Gemma Bonner (centre, no 4) then doubled City’s lead just one minute later

The manager said last night that he will seek to strengthen in that area next month. It didn’t help Everton that Weir’s delivery was also sublime. Her diagonal ball on to the head of Janine Beckie on the stroke of half-time, allowing her to add a third, was the afternoon’s standout moment.

But Everton’s defensive effort was not good enough. Beckie’s finish made up for a bad miss when Lucy Graham’s miscued midfield header had allowed the Canadian to run through on MacIver, only to side-foot wide. 

Everton’s usual pressing intensity was missing in a side also terribly weakened by injuries to Valerie Gauvin and Claire Emslie, which left them with no out-ball options.

Janine Beckie (centre) capped off a stunning first half by putting City 3-0 up in added time

The removal of Lavelle at half-time — she limped to the stand on crutches after an awkward landing damaged a knee — did little to reduce City’s superiority. Taylor could afford to make three more early substitutions and bring in 20-year-old Lauren Hemp, the prodigious talent out since a pre-season injury.

Now City travel to Sweden harbouring genuine hopes of Champions League success.

‘We know we’ve got to be at it in every given moment,’ Taylor said, when asked if this group of players could take the club all the way. ‘We are under no illusions about how hard it will be, but with this group of players, yes, we believe we can be successful.’