Casey Stoney: Man Utd not reaching Women's Champions League would be a 'personal failure'

Casey Stoney would regard it as a failure on her part if Manchester United do not secure Champions League football this season.

The race for a top-three finish in the Women's Super League (WSL) currently sees United lying third, six points clear of fourth-placed Arsenal, with the sides - who meet at Meadow Park on Friday - having six and seven games left respectively.

When asked if she would consider it a failure if the team did not qualify for the Champions League this term, United boss Stoney said: "Yeah, I would - for me personally, not for my players.

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"I would never say my players failed, because they give 100 per cent effort all the time. But for me as a head coach, I would see that as a failure, yes."

Following their launch as a professional outfit in 2018, Stoney guided United to the 2018-19 Championship title - the second tier of women's football in England - and they then finished fourth in the top-flight WSL last term.

While she admits the club are "probably a year ahead" in terms of her expectations when she took charge, she has stressed United's ambition from the start of this season was trying to finish in the top three.

Having headed into 2021 unbeaten and topping the table, they have now lost three of their last six games.

United have had the likes of Tobin Heath, Lauren James, Alessia Russo and Lucy Staniforth sidelined for considerable stints this season.

Asked if it was a case of what could have been if players had been fit, Stoney said: "If I'm honest, yeah, injuries have hit at crucial times."

Stoney emphasised she was "not a manager that makes excuses", before adding: "I question could we have maybe pushed a little harder if everyone was available, but that's football.

"It's been a season like no other in terms of injuries for us. We are reviewing absolutely everything in terms of why - and some of it is just absolute rubbish luck. But we move forward, we've got fantastic players, and we have to keep pushing forward."

Stoney, who has forward James available again after a foot injury, says Friday's game is "a big opportunity for us" and has stressed "we don't prepare for draws... we're going into this game to win".

Montemurro: This is one of our 'cup finals'

The previous meeting in November saw United win 1-0, and when Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro was asked if there was an element of revenge in terms of the mood in the camp, he said: "Totally. I don't know if it's revenge, but there's just a real positivity at the moment.

"We know we let ourselves and the club down that day. Definitely, now being at (Meadow Park), we want to make sure we keep it a fortress and keep winning games there."

He added: "There are still a lot of really important games to play, but for us it is one of our 'cup finals' if you want to put it in inverted commas. It is a big game for us."

Asked if he would feel it was a failure if Arsenal - who have had notable injury issues themselves - missed out of the top three, Montemurro said: "As the coach, I've always got to take responsibility.

"Us not reaching certain targets I have to take full responsibility for, and as Arsenal, we demand being at the highest level.

"I don't know if failure is the right word, because there's a lot of very good things we've done in terms of stabilising the scenario, and I'm a process coach."

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