Manchester City Women v Blackburn Rovers Women: Match Preview and Prediction

Manchester City begin their defence of the Intercontinental Cup as they welcome Blackburn Rovers to the Academy Stadium.

The blues came from a goal down in the final in March to beat Chelsea 3-1 at Wimbledon to claim Gareth Taylor’s second major trophy as manager, and face Championship side Rovers in this season’s opening match.

Form

After a difficult start, City are beginning to find their feet with two successive victories over Leicester and Spurs leaving them 6th in the league. Bunny Shaw has found her scoring boots and has five goals already to her name.

Blackburn are currently struggling near the bottom of the Championship and a trip to the home of the blues, who are finding form, is possibly not what they would relish. Rovers are 10th in the league from 12 teams, having won just two of their opening six games, scoring eight goals and conceding twelve.

Team News

Manager Gareth Taylor has stated that a major focus of City is to defend the trophy, and that may have some bearing on his team selection. Alanna Kennedy and Ruby Mace may be in line to return, and Taylor could be tempted to rest top scorer Bunny Shaw.

Prediction

With City flying at the moment, it wouldn’t be surprising if they hit a few past Blackburn tonight. I’m expecting a big win against the Championship strugglers.

City 6-0 Blackburn