Exclusive: Man City stars speak to OneFootball ahead of Chelsea WSL clash | OneFootball

Tickets for the WSL clash between Manchester City and Chelsea are available here! Buy now!

This weekend marks round three of four as Manchester City take on Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.

The two teams have already met twice in the last week, with Chelsea winning the League Cup final in Derby, before two Vivianne Miedema goals saw City beat the Blues in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in midweek.

Attention now turns back to the Women’s Super League and City’s bid to make ground on Arsenal and Manchester United, who both currently sit four points ahead of them in the race for a top three finish.

It’s been a season of change at City. Just this month, Nick Cushing returned as Interim Head Coach right in time to take City through this run of games against Chelsea and through to the end of the season. Cushing has had to do without the injured Alex Greenwood, sidelined by surgery, to date.

Greenwood has not featured since December and speaking exclusively to OneFootball, talked about the two sides of the coin when going through injuries.

“It’s been a challenge for me personally,” the England defender said.

“You’ve obviously got to look at it two ways and you can moan about it or do something about it. There are days that are a lot more challenging than others. This month (with the games against Chelsea) is every reason I do what I do as a footballer.”

City will turn out at the Etihad for the third time in the WSL this season when Chelsea visit this weekend and there could be some homegrown talent on show yet again after Lily Murphy’s impressive season continued with a start in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Tickets for the WSL clash between Manchester City and Chelsea are available here! Buy now!

Just 18, Murphy has made 11 appearances across the WSL and UWCL so far this season and told OneFootball how great her team-mates have been in helping her make the transition into the first team.

“When you’ve got great players around you it helps you adapt to how everyone plays and just having them around me, that’s been really helpful.

“Definitely all the attackers (have helped), like Mary (Fowler), Bunny (Shaw), the wingers, Aoba (Fujino), they’ve helped a lot because obviously they play in the same position, so they’ve just given me advice where it’s been needed.

“From a leadership point of view, Alex (Greenwood) is really good with young players.”

Murphy’s pace could be crucial for City during the run in. The teenager has represented England at youth level in the 100m sprint and she tells us 11.81 is her personal best, though she hasn’t yet raced her City team-mates just yet.

“I don’t know — we’d have to check!” she laughs when asked whether she’s the fastest player at the club right now.

Of all the highs of her debut campaign so far, it’s clear nothing sticks out for Murphy like that feeling of hitting the back of the net.

“Scoring in the Manchester derby, because I’m a City fan, and to win as well,” she says when asked about the highest of highs to date.

“That was just incredible. My family was there watching too and that made it even more incredible. Similar to the Champions League game (against St. Pölten), I started and I just couldn’t believe that I scored.”

Another outing at the Etihad Stadium this weekend will give the 18-year-old and her team-mates another opportunity to create memories that could last a lifetime.

Tickets for the WSL clash between Manchester City and Chelsea are available here! Buy now!

📸 OLI SCARFF - AFP or licensors