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Home United Women’s season primed to take off as Skinner confirms return of “one of the best in the world”

United Women’s season primed to take off as Skinner confirms return of “one of the best in the world”

2 Mins read

Manchester United Women return to action this weekend against West Ham United on Sunday.

The Red Devils had numerous players involved during the international break but will return to action in a busy period before Christmas, during which they will play five games across three different tournaments.

Phallon Tullis-Joyce back

United fans will be delighted with the return to fitness of American goalkeeper Tullis-Joyce.

Speaking to the media (via the club’s official website), Manchester United Women manager Marc Skinner confirmed the great news.

He stated, “Phallon is ready. Phallon has been training the last few days, so Phallon will be available for selection. Everybody else, barring only Millie and Celin obviously, [is available]. Millie is training again with the team, doing bits, so that’s fantastic news. Hopefully, maybe towards the end of this [December] block, she can come back.”

Skinner will be delighted with the news as he has previously referred to Tullis-Joyce as “one of the best in the world”.

Not all heroes wear capes.

They wear masks.

And gloves. pic.twitter.com/qGz5O6dGC9

— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) December 5, 2025

Celin Bizet pregnant

Skinner also confirmed the news that Norwegian star Bizet will be out of action for the foreseeable future as she is currently pregnant.

Skinner stated, “firstly, congratulations to Aron [Celin’s partner] and Celin because to bring a life into the world is the greatest adventure. From our perspective, we’re going to miss her.”

The manager also added, “but, more importantly, the news of them bringing a life into the world and two loving parents is the main headline for me. I’m really happy for them, it’s the greatest journey you can undertake so I’m looking forward to welcoming them. Maybe, if it’s a girl, it could be the future with Romi [Hannah Blundell’s daughter] of Manchester United, so we’ll see.”

He also confirmed that the club will look to strengthen in the January transfer window to compensate for the loss of the winger. Turning the focus to Sunday’s opponents, West Ham United, he praised their coach and suggested that they are unlucky to be as low down the league as they currently are.

Skinner stated, “their front three can unpick any defence, they have such quality in the way they interact. You’ve got to be really focused about defending them and then they defend in their block at times, so you’ve got to beat that.”

Decline in form

Despite a red-hot start to the season, the Red Devils have declined recently, losing against Wolfsburg, Manchester City and Aston Villa in quick succession.

Skinner claimed that he wanted to see his side return to the form of earlier in the season and said they can learn from their recent defeats in November.

He explained, “the Wolfsburg game, we gave away too many simple goals. That’s something we need to fix. The players come back in today from international duty and there will be a great energy. They will be ready to fix it and ready to go in this game, I have no doubt.”

Finally, he defended his rotation of strikers Melvine Malard and Elisabeth Terland by stating it was nothing to do with their quality but rather the need to conserve energy over a busy set of fixtures. United will face the Hammers on Sunday at noon UK time at the Progress With Unity Stadium.