🏏 Sat, 1 Nov 2025 12:00 GMT
Manchester City Women
vs
West Ham Women
Positions estimated (no formation data from the API)
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- This is the WSL fixture with the strongest Japanese flavour of the round. Manchester City start three Japan internationals in goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita, midfielder Yui Hasegawa and left winger Aoba Fujino, while West Ham answer with striker Riko Ueki and right-back Yu Endo. Five capped Nadeshiko players are on the pitch from the first whistle, spread from goalkeeper to forward line.
- The headline subplot is Yui Hasegawa's reunion with West Ham. The 28-year-old moved from Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza to AC Milan and then to West Ham, the club that introduced her to the WSL, before joining City where she has since passed 100 appearances. At 157cm she controls games through positioning and passing accuracy rather than power, and her duel for midfield rhythm will define the afternoon.
- Two Nadeshiko team-mates go head to head in the most direct way possible. Riko Ueki, 26, scored four goals at the U17 World Cup and five at the U20 World Cup on the way to that title, and was Japan's leading scorer at the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup. Her movement in the box will be tested by Yamashita, the goalkeeper she lines up alongside for the national team.
- City's left flank belongs to 21-year-old Aoba Fujino, a Beleza graduate who became Japan's youngest scorer at the 2023 Women's World Cup and twice won the WE League MVP award. At 160cm she thrives on close-quarters dribbling. Opposite her is Yu Endo, who spent 15 years and 171 games with Urawa Reds Ladies and won back-to-back WE League and AFC Women's Champions League titles.
- City's front line is formidable. Vivianne Miedema, 29, is the WSL's all-time leading scorer and the Netherlands' record goalscorer, and she is partnered by Jamaica captain Khadija Shaw, 28, whose 180cm frame and two-footed finishing make her dominant in the air. Containing Miedema's intelligent positioning and Shaw's aerial threat at the same time is a huge task for West Ham.
- West Ham's midfield is anchored by captain Katrina Gorry. The 33-year-old stands just 155cm, has more than 100 Australia caps, was named 2014 AFC Player of the Year and has played in seven countries including a spell with Vegalta Sendai Ladies in Japan. Alongside her is Finland's Oona Siren, a two-time Finnish champion with KuPS, and together they must wrestle possession from Hasegawa.
- Experience runs through West Ham's spine. Canada's Shelina Zadorsky, 33, has over 100 caps, Olympic bronze from Rio 2016 and gold from Tokyo 2020, plus four years at Tottenham. Behind her is Kinga Szemik, the Poland number one who kept a clean sheet in the Women's Euro 2025 qualifying play-off that carried her country to a first major tournament and has a reputation for saving penalties.
- West Ham's attack is cosmopolitan. Viviane Asseyi, 31, has over 60 France caps, played for Bayern Munich and Montpellier and was named Hammer of the Year for 2024-25. Shekiera Martinez spent eight years at Eintracht Frankfurt and won the golden boot at the 2018 UEFA U17 European Championship with nine goals, while Wales forward Ffion Morgan has passed 50 international caps.
- City's back line mixes youth with silverware. The centre-back pairing is 20-year-old England U23 defender Gracie Prior and 22-year-old Canada international Jade Rose, a 178cm signing from San Diego Wave FC. Flanking them are Leila Ouahabi, the 32-year-old Spain full-back who won five league titles and the Champions League with Barcelona, and Netherlands right-back Kerstin Casparij, recruited as Lucy Bronze's successor.
- Both benches can change the closing stages. City hold Grace Clinton, the 21-year-old England midfielder signed from Manchester United, and 34-year-old Laura Coombs, a veteran of Liverpool and Everton. West Ham can call on Verena Hanshaw, an Austria centurion named in the Euro 2017 team of the tournament, and 19-year-old Swiss forward Leila Wandeler, a Lyon academy product who featured at Euro 2025.