Sky Sports columnist Laura Hunter analyses the big talking points from the latest Women's Super League matches, bringing you closer to the key stories at the heart of the women's game.
Park and Toone unlocking new possibilities
Manchester United recorded their sixth win of the season on Sunday, and in doing so equalled a club-record five successive away victories. Marc Skinner's side are proving difficult to handle. And it's because they are uniquely efficient all over the park. Finally, this is a squad with title-challenging capability.
Skinner's 4-1-4-1 structure is the stabilising force. They know how to kill games using the perfect combination of tactical variety. No team in the league can boast a greater variation of goalscorers this season (15). Their conversion rate (19.59) ranks first too.
This approach is based on a risk vs reward technique that selects moments carefully. Sunday's 3-2 victory over Brighton was case in point. United created fewer big chances than Brighton but still scored more goals. This is the kind of fixture a less-complete side would have dropped points in - United have not managed to win at Brighton since 2022/23. In the battle of fine margins United can finally attest to winning.
In terms of chance creation overall this term, they rank fourth behind Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City, and yet they are the league's top scorers with 19. Sixteen of those strikes have been scored from open play, also a league high.
Much of that has to do with a different kind of connectivity, less recognisable in teams of old. Their passing networks have been greatly enhanced by the arrivals of Jess Park and Julia Zigiotti Olme in the summer.
Never before have Man Utd outranked the likes of Arsenal and Man City in terms of passes attempted. They do now. It's a style change that has been aided by the profile of players at Skinner's disposal but also their arrangement, with Park as an inverted winger, joining Zigiotti, Ella Toone and Hinata Miyazawa centrally to create overloads. Their rotations are exceptionally difficult to track because they differ from week to week.
"They control spaces opponents can't get to," said Skinner of Toone and Park on Sunday, adding: "They bring the team to life." Brighton boss Dario Vidosic blamed his side's loss on "uncharacteristic errors", but it was United's intensity that forced enough mistakes to win the game.
Toone and Park are especially hard to mark simultaneously, meaning one is always free to receive in the pocket.
The latter's remit is far wider than it was at Man City - covering far more space - and uses that free role to help construct attacks as well as finish them. It's a reciprocal relationship. Park's seven shot-creating actions and 11 touches in the opposition box were the best totals of any player against Brighton, while Toone's combined xG and xA value (1.01) also ranked first. Put simply, they are running games.
The pair, who first played together as a part of Man City's youth ranks, have combined for three WSL goals this season, the most of any duo in the division, while only West Ham's Riko Ueki and Viviane Asseyi have created more chances for one another (eight) than Toone and Park's seven.
And this midfield cluster does its work off the ball too. United have recovered possession in the middle third of the pitch more times (180) than any other side, thanks in large parts to the concentration of bodies who operate there. It's a perfect blend of fortitude and finesse.
That leaves Melvine Malard and Jayde Riviere to provide the width - another area of specialism. Riviere has progressed the ball further via carries than any other full back in the WSL because she attacks the space Park vacates. Malard, meanwhile, remains the league's most potent scorer.
Man Utd are excelling in areas previously out-of-bounds. New possibilities have been unlocked. They are one of only two clubs, along with Chelsea, yet to lose a game and the longer that continues the greater the belief will be of a serious and sustained title challenge.
Why West Ham are in trouble - and a possible fix
West Ham have spent just 15 minutes and 39 seconds leading in league games this season. They are on a run of 447 minutes without a goal. And it's difficult to see where the next one is coming from.
Manchester City only landed one shot on target in their latest encounter and emerged with a 1-0 win. In games that are decided by the barest of margins, the Hammers are falling painfully short, spending over 50 per cent of their total game time this term in a losing position.
The numbers are even bleaker broken down. West Ham have conceded a greater number of goals (18) than any other side and scored the fewest (two). Their xG values at both ends of the pitch tally similarly.
They are the only side yet to score a goal from open play. After 630 minutes of football that fact is perhaps the most damning of all. But to make matters worse, they are forgoing the physicality battle too, with more challenges lost (74) than any other team. Shots conceded inside the box is another mounting problem problem and accounts for the high goal ratio - an average of 2.5 shipped per game.
It's hard to see a way back for a side underperforming so extensively, on the longest active losing streak in the competition (eight games). Fortunately for Rehanne Skinner, Liverpool are on an equally miserable run. Right now the fight to avoid relegation is a two horse race between the only two sides who remain pointless. It could even be defined by who comes out on top in that fixture on December 14.
And if that does come to be a decider, Skinner needs Ueki and Asseyi to dig her out of a hole. This is a double act proven to work. The pair have plenty of fast break threat and can finish, albeit have failed to find any clinical edge recently. Asseyi is a particularly tricky character, though, and a fantastic ball carrier - with more shot ending carries than any other winger (six).
Both forwards had opportunities to make a dent in the scoreline before Man City scored what turned out to be the winner on Saturday, Asseyi striking the crossbar after Ueki drew a decent stop from Phallon Tullis-Joyce. West Ham know how to create openings utilising direct play on the counter. They have to use it better.
"We had four chances, three of them were exceptional," acknowledged Skinner. Finding what she describes as the "missing touch" has never been more vital in the fight for survival.
