United got off to a flying start as Lucia Garcia headed in Galton’s cross to the back post in the first minute. The crowd went wild.

As the game settled, Chelsea controlled possession but United looked threatening when they won the ball back.

United defended resolutely. James had a shot that went wide, much to the relief of the home fans.

At the other end, United fought hard for every ball and Toone delivered a lovely ball into the box, Garcia and Williams were waiting and it was the latter who headed it in at the near post.

United had to be patient off the ball as Chelsea launched wave after wave of attacks. With five minutes of injury time to play Chelsea’s pressure paid off. A shot came in that Earps magnificently saved.

However, although United had kept her quiet, Lauren James found a way back in for the blues, netting just before the break.

Chelsea were relentless in the second half and United were hanging on for dear life.

Earps made two fantastic saves to maintain United’s lead in the first ten minutes of the second half.

The game was getting edgy as Chelsea tried to play for free kicks and penalties, meanwhile United were putting their bodies on the line with every wave of attack.

United netted a third but it was ruled out for offside.

Corner after corner came in, free kick after free kick but there was always a Millie Turner to head away, and Hayley Ladd to boot it up field.

Every single player was defending like their lives depended on it. Earps got booked for time-wasting. There were eight minutes of injury time but somehow United held on. As the ball went wide following a corner, there was one last big kick from Earps and the ref put her whistle to her mouth.

The north stand erupted, the curse had been broken and United had beaten Chelsea for the first time in their history to book their place at Wembley. Happy tears flowed from fans and players alike.

Team: Earps, Mannion, Le Tissier, Turner, Blundell, Naalsund, Toone (Ladd), Garcia, Galton (Parris), Williams (Malard)

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As journalists, we’re used to being unpopular, and this is bound to upset a number of Manchester United fans but it makes sense for Marc Skinner to sign a new contract at Manchester United Women – for both parties.

As Manchester United, the club, enters a new era under INEOS, we’re already starting to see major changes taking shape behind the scenes. Football director, John Murtough, is departing at the end of the season as is director of women’s football, Polly Bancroft.

Sir Jim’s bread and butter at Manchester United is the men’s team, that’s his priority, it’s where the history and legacy of the club lies not to mention the money. He has met with fans of the women’s team and pledged his support to them but that will not be high on his list of things to do.

In some ways, he is inheriting two struggling football teams that both require an element of change but it is doubtful whether he can successfully change both drastically at the same time.

Erik ten Hag’s future has come into question a lot lately and whether he stays or goes it feels unimaginable that both teams could require a new manager at the end of the season. Stabilising the men’s team, getting the right structures in place for them first, needs to be the priority.

From Skinner’s point of view, he has just become a father again so the job security that a new contract offer would bring seems a wise move for the 41 year old.

Is he the long term solution for Manchester United women? Possibly, possibly not but he’s also not the problem. First we have to start with the question, did Manchester United women over-achieve last year or under-achieve this year?

The answer is, probably a bit of both.

Whilst Arsenal were struggling with four ACL’s hampering their side’s chances last season and City were adapting to a lot of incomings and outgoings, Manchester United were flying high, going toe-to-toe with Chelsea.

United were finding ways to win, not always convincingly. The team would nick a goal late on to take the points.

The incredible victory against Arsenal at the Emirates, coming from behind to win 3-2 in injury time, with a similar story against Aston Villa, meant euphoria for a fan but it also potentially clouded the fact that those games were pretty close and how it could so easily have tipped the other way if the footballing gods hadn’t been on United’s side.

Skinner’s side pushed Chelsea all the way to the final day of the season and forced them to the highest-ever WSL points total to prevent the Reds winning their first top flight title. Meanwhile, in the FA Cup, United enjoyed their first trip to Wembley where they narrowly lost to Chelsea 0-1.

This year, United suffered plenty of injuries – Gabby George, Emma Watson, Hinata Miyazawa and in those finely-poised games, the footballing gods haven’t been smiling on them this time around.

Brighton and Hove Albion away, United came back twice and in the dying moments of injury time, they had a corner that Williams headed goal-wards but it didn’t go in. It was so nearly another 3-2 thriller but instead, fans left feeling slightly frustrated with a draw.

Perhaps it’s got nothing to do with the football gods and everything to do with opposition teams becoming wiser to the Reds’ injury-time antics, and being able to defend against them better. But the point is, performance-wise, United are not much different this year than they were last year.

At this point, it may be fair to ask, ‘Why haven’t we pushed on from last year? If teams have become wiser, why haven’t we adapted?’ It would be a valid enquiry and one I can only defend with, ‘It takes time’.

There has been a massive change in personnel, and United are feeling the loss of Ona Batlle and to a lesser extent Alessia Russo and although we invested well last summer, some of those new players are yet to adapt to our style of play and in some cases, to the language barrier.

We have seen the capabilities of players like Geyse and Miyazawa on the world stage and it’s only a matter of time before they start producing the goods week in, week out at United.

An issue affecting the club that has been raised time and time again is the inability to keep players, to negotiate contract extensions in time and get transfers over the line but that responsibility does not lie on Skinner’s shoulders.

INEOS already seem to be addressing those issues as they appoint Matt Johnson to replace Polly Bancroft and have promised an audit of the women’s team structure.

As for the other issues that fans have raised around Skinner’s tenure, they are more complicated.

They need to be careful with some of their wilder accusations on social media; If you haven’t got solid evidence to back up your statements, that would stand up in a court of law, then don’t say them – you could literally be sued for defamation.

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Manchester United Women’s manager, Marc Skinner, has said he wants his team to show “an abundance of personality” as his team hopes to beat Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup on Sunday.

United are hoping to go one better than last season when they made it to the final but were beaten 1-0 by Sunday’s opponents.

Chelsea suffered defeat in their last game as Arsenal beat them 1-0 in the final of the Conti Cup, ending their hopes of a quadruple. However, Skinner suggested that this would only fuel his opponents.

Skinner said: “Chelsea is probably the toughest challenge within football, especially in England. I think they have proven before that a setback isn’t something that necessarily bothers them. They try to obviously win the next game.

“We’ve got to sacrifice and suffer without the ball but, when we get it, we’ve got to show an abundance of personality. If we can do that, I have no doubt we can beat any team, let alone a team that’s as good as Chelsea.”

After the club hosted their first player-fan press conference today for the women’s side, Skinner called on the loyal and loud supporters to get behind his team.

“We have to use our fans, and our fans have to be with us from minute one to wherever. It could be extra-time and penalties. They need to be with us throughout all of it, but all of us are going to have to sacrifice to be successful because this is the hardest team to play against.”

One ex-red who has come back to haunt his side on many an occasion is Lauren James who scored a hattrick the last time the two sides met.

“Having watched Lauren James, she’s a fantastic player, but Chelsea have a lot of those. So you could prepare for her and then somebody else will pop up. But we also have those players. We have game-changing players and players that can win games.”

He continued: “From our perspective, I think, when we go into duels with James, you have to be strong, you have to read what she’s going to try to do, which is very difficult.”

Skinner has been in the news a lot lately as speculation surrounding his future at Manchester United grows.

“I’m at a club that not only do I love the history of it, I love what’s going to come in the future. It’s it’s a club that has fantastic fans, like incredible fans. Of course, I want to stay.”

Skinner confirmed the good news that there are no new injuries to report after his squad returned from the international break.

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A number of Manchester United women players have been in action for their countries over the past few days.

England Lionesses kicked off their European defence as qualifying for Euro 2026 got under way.

Millie Turner, Ella Toone, Mary Earps and Grace Clinton were called up for the games against Sweden and Ireland which concluded with a draw and a win for the current champions.

Earps was in goal against Sweden but was unable to keep a clean sheet as Sweden found a reply to former United starlet Alessia Russo’s first half goal.

Earps dropped to the bench against Ireland but United’s Ella Toone came into the side as Sarina Wiegman made five changes.

It proved to be a successful move as England beat the hosts 2-0 with goals from two former Reds, Lauren James and Alex Greenwood.

Aoife Mannion, who returned from injury for United recently, was on the pitch for Ireland.

Meanwhile, England U19’s were also in action and have secured their place in the Euro finals in Lithuania with Manchester United’s Evie Rabjohn helping them to victory.

Elsewhere, Lisa Naalsund helped Norway beat Finland 4-0 on home soil. She came on for ex-Red Vilde Boe Risa and produced the assist for her country’s fourth and final goal, scored by Elisabeth Terland of Brighton & Hove Albion.

However, they lost their second game of the campaign 0-1 to the Netherlands.

Gemma Evans and Hayley Ladd partnered each other at centre-back as Wales beat Croatia 4-0 in Wrexham before following it up with a huge 6-0 victory over Kosovo last night.

Academy player Mayzee Davies was also in the squad and came on as a 77th minute substitute in Kosovo.

Lucia Garcia was called up for world champions Spain as they beat Belgium 7-0 before besting Czech Republic 3-1 in their next game.

Outside of Europe, Geyse was also in action for Brazil in the SheBelieves Cup whilst Hinata Miyazawa came on as a sub for Japan in the same competition which was eventually won by the USA.

It was a good chance to monitor the performance of a number of players linked with a move to United next summer, in particular Canada’s Julia Grosso who scored the winning penalty against Japan to progress through to the final of the SheBelieves Cup.

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Manchester United Women have been linked with Wolfsburg striker Ewa Pajor, with a record transfer fee expected if United continue to pursue.

The Polish international signed for Wolfsburg in 2015 and has since made 103 appearances and scored 78 goals for the Champions League side.

The question will be, with the club being in somewhat of a transitional period after the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and with United Women failing to qualify for the Champions League next year, can they persuade Pajor to sign?

The estimated price tag is thought to be around £500,000 which would make a bold statement about the club’s intentions going forward.

The club are also reportedly in the race to sign Juventus midfielder Julia Grosso but face competition from Real Madrid.

The Canadian international is out of contract this summer and could be available as a free agent although the Serie A club are keen to negotiate a new deal.

It is thought that a two-year extension is on the table for Grosso to sign, with a pay increase, and that the ball is in her court but she is open to hearing offers from other interested clubs.

Grosso scored the winning penalty in the Gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as they beat Sweden to be crowned Olympic champions back in 2021.

United manager, Marc Skinner has made it clear that he wants to add more depth to his squad and after an unsuccessful transfer window in January he will be looking at making a big statement in the summer.

However, United’s priority will be strengthening at the back, since they have suffered with injuries which have severely stretched their defence this season.

Gabby George suffered an ACL injury in the first half of the season and Jayde Riviere has picked up a knock which could rule her out for the remainder of the season as well.

Aoife Mannion was called into action for United’s clash against Everton after being side-lined for the majority of this season so far and did well but has been prone to injury throughout her career.

It is expected that a number of players could be leaving in the summer forcing Skinner to strengthen in all areas of the pitch.

Fans have called into question the effectiveness of midfielder and United captain Katie Zelem, however statistically, Zelem is one of the best midfielders in the league and is likely to stay.

Irene Guerrero on the other hand may be looking to leave due to the lack of game time. The World Cup winner will be hoping for more game time to maintain her position with the Spanish international squad.

Meanwhile, Hayley Ladd signed a contract extension to stay at the club until 2025 but having just completed her coaching qualifications, it is thought that she may look for a player-coach position somewhere.

36-year-old Rachel Williams has also been tipped to go down the player-coach route. She is a likeable character in United’s dressing room and has the ability to turn games around with her vision as a substitute and could be an asset to the backroom staff in the future.

Meanwhile, Melvine Malard is expected to return to Lyon at the conclusion of the season as her loan deal expires with sources close to the club suggesting United are unwilling to make the move permanent.

Skinner’s contract expires at the end of the season but it is expected that he will sign an extension for at least another year.

A successful statement signing for him could help boost United’s chances next season and help restore some respect amongst sections of the fanbase that have turned against him in recent months.

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