Man United team news: Cankovic ruled out

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Read all the team news ahead of Saturday's game at the Amex.

Charlie Hanson

2024-10-18T09:00+01:00

Jelena Cankovic will miss Saturday's game against Manchester United. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Our women’s team will move top of the table if they beat Manchester United at the Amex on Saturday, kick-off 12.30pm.

Tickets are still available for the game, secure yours here. If you can't attend, our game against the Red Devils will be live on the WSL YouTube channel.

Team news

Poppy Pattinson is available after serving a one-match ban but Jelena Cankovic faces a spell on the sidelines after injuring her hamstring in last Sunday's 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.

On Cankovic's injury, Dario said, "It's her hamstring, so we expect her to be out for just a couple of weeks. It's a shame as she was coming back and building back up. But it's a part of football, she's the ultimate professional, so if the medical team say a couple of weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if she's back before that."

Dario’s thoughts

On Saturday's game taking place at the Amex, the women's first team head coach said, "Ticket sales are going good and we encourage everyone to come out and to help us because we do have an opportunity. If we win, we will go top of the WSL which is another carrot that's there hanging for us, but we know we've got a tough opponent.

"It's going to be a really good game, not just for the two sets of fans, but for the league itself, two teams that want to try to score goals, that want to attack."

The visitors

Elisabeth Terland and Maya Le Tissier are both now Manchester United players, having represented Albion. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Manchester United have had a perfect start to the WSL campaign. With maximum points from three games, Marc Skinner's team have seen off West Ham, Everton and Tottenham without conceding a goal.

In their most recent outing - a 3-0 home win over Spurs - former Albion striker Elisabeth Terland scored her first and second goals for United, while ex-Albion defender Maya Le Tissier added the third from the penalty spot.

Match stats

Albion are winless in their last six games against Manchester United (D1 L5) in the WSL, since a 1-0 home win in April 2021.
Manchester United have won seven of their 10 games against Albion in the Women’s Super League (D2 L1), keeping a clean sheet in each victory.
Albion have won three of their first four WSL matches this season, with nine points their best ever start at this stage. Indeed, last season it took them until their 11th game to register as many as nine points.
Manchester United have won their opening three WSL games this season while keeping a clean sheet each time, with a team winning their opening four games without conceding five times previously in WSL history, one of which was Man Utd in 2022-23.
Only Manchester City (2,250) and Arsenal (1,876) have completed more passes in the WSL this season than Brighton’s total of 1,680. This average of 420 passes completed per game is comfortably their most in a single campaign (previous best was 296 per game last season).
Since losing 6-0 to Chelsea in May, Manchester United have won their three WSL games by an aggregate score of 7-0. They last had a longer winning run in the league without conceding in September and October 2022 (5).
Dario Vidosic has picked up nine points in his four WSL matches as Brighton manager so far (W3 L1). Only three managers have won as many as 12 points in their first five games in charge of a club: David Parker at Birmingham (15), Jonas Eidevall at Arsenal (15) and Laura Harvey at Arsenal (12).

Guro Bergsvand has the best passing record in the WSL so far this season. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Among all players to attempt 50+ passes in the WSL this season, Brighton’s Guro Bergsvand has the best passing accuracy of any player (96.5%, 245/254 completed). Using the same parameters, it’s the best accuracy by a player in a WSL season in history.
Brighton’s Fran Kirby has been involved in three goals in four WSL appearances this season (2 goals, 1 assist) and now has 99 goal involvements in the competition (65 goals, 34 assists). The only players to get 100+ goals and assists combined are Vivianne Miedema (116) and Beth Mead (110).
Manchester United’s Maya Le Tissier – who made 58 WSL appearances for Brighton between 2018 and 2022 – could make her 100th start in the competition in this match. She will become the youngest player to have started 100 times in the competition’s history (22 years, 184 days), breaking the record set by Lauren Hemp in December last year (23 years, 124 days).