Manchester City will go head-to-head with PSG in the Perth International Cup final on Sunday after beating WSL rivals Leicester in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.
Having narrowly missed out on being named league champions last season, the Cityzens will no doubt be wanting to use their pre-season tour to show they are back with a vengeance. After a successful summer of signings, they’ll be entering the 2024/25 campaign with one of the strongest attacking frontlines in the WSL.
Over in France, PSG are under new management following the departure of Jocelyn Precheur to Championship side London City Lionesses. Now under leadership of Fabrice Abriel, the club will certainly have their sights on a title win, having been unsuccessful for the past three seasons.
Here’s 90min’s preview of Sunday’s pre-season final clash.
Current form (all competitions)
| Man City | PSG |
|---|---|
| Man City 0-0 Leicester City (4-3) – 28/08/24 | PSG 1-0 West Ham – 29/08/24 |
| Man City 2-1 Aston Villa – 18/05/24 | PSG 4-0 Le Havre AC – 08/22/24 |
| Man City 1-2 Arsenal – 28/05/24 | PSG 1-2 Lyon – 05/17/24 |
| Man City 4-0 Bristol City – 28/04/24 | PSG 2-2 Paris FC (5-4) – 11/05/24 |
| Man City 5-0 West Ham – 21/04/24 | PSG 1-2 Reims – 08/05/24 |
| Country | TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | DAZN UK, mancity.com |
| France | DAZN PT, psg.fr |
Head coach Gareth Taylor is rightly using the club’s pre-season tour to get a glimpse of as many of his 24-player squad as possible, ahead of having to make tough starting lineup decisions when the WSL kicks off in a few weeks.
City’s game against Leicester gave us the opportunity to see new signings in action and the return of regular faces.
New recruit Ayaka Yamashita made two spectacular saves in the penalty shoot-out, playing a big role in helping secure the teams win after coming on for Khiara Keating in the second half.
Netherlands international Vivianne Miedema also made her unofficial debut, putting an impressive 20-minute shift in towards the end of the final 90 minutes and scoring a match-winning penalty.
Fans were finally able to see last season’s Golden Boot winner Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw back in action, after missing out on the the end of her 2023/24 campaign due to a foot injury.
Man City predicated lineup vs PSG (4-3-3): Keating, Casparij, Prior, Greenwood, Ouahabi, Blindkilde Brown, Park, O’Carroll, Kelly, Hemp, Pritchard.
England international goalkeeper Mary Earps has two winning appearances under her belt for PSG.
Dutch signings Romee Leuchter has been a goalscoring machine since joining the club in the summer. She scored the only game of the match against West Ham, seeing them secure a 1-0 victory and bagged herself a hat-trick against Le Havre back in France.
PSG predicted lineup vs Man City (4-3-3): Earps, Samoura, Dudek, Mbock, Elimbi Gilbert, J. Le Guilly, Ebayilin, Fazer, Echegini, Traore, Leuchter
Despite being a pre-season friendly, both teams will want to reign victorious in the final of the Perth International Cup.
That’s why it’s likely there’ll be plenty of goals, setting the scene for a very entertaining 90 minutes.
However, Man City may just clinch the win, purely because of the strength of their frontline and the likely changes that will see Miedema and Shaw grace the pitch.
Prediction: Man City 2-1 PSG
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