Key events
ITV are not particularly interested in this game, they have spoken about Friday night for about 15 mins. Look forward, folks.
Sarina Wiegman: “Every game you don’t win, it hurts. Friday was a hard one because we didn’t create any momentum.
“Of course you want to win but always when we lose, win or draw we look at things we can do better but when you lose it makes it more urgent.
“We want to have some freshness and some other players. We expect very tight spaces and she [Blindkilde Brown] position herself really well, she finds the ball and that’s why we brought her in.”
Gordon emails in: “After the debacle of last Friday, and, let us not forget, a poor performance in Iceland, many were calling for changes in the England XI, and, indeed, I am pleased to see Le Tissier, Charles, and Blindkilde Brown starting tonight.
“But, to me, it is inexplicable that Walsh and Stanway retain their spots. These two were embarrassingly poor against Spain last Friday – they had rings run round them by Putellas and co. Their inclusion tonight begs the question – how poor do they have to be to get dropped? Lucia Kendall and Jess Park should be playing in their place.
“I have belatedly realised that Sarina Wiegman has been without her long-time assistant Arjan Veurink since last year’s Euros triumph – he is now the head coach of the Netherlands Women. I am beginning to think that he was the brains of the outfit.”
Will England bounce back or will they be pulped?
It is only four changes for Wiegman tonight, so not as many as some anticipated but will freshen things up.
Not just about England tonight. There will be a decent amount in the away end.
It is great to see England playing away from Wembley. The only time I had much interest in the national side was when they were travelling around during the construction of the new stadium. Getting to Wembley from pretty much anywhere outside London is a massive pain and it is incredibly expensive for tickets, as a general rule.
Pre-match reading …
Starting lineups
England (4-3-3): Hampton; Le Tissier, Carter, Morgan, Charles; Walsh, Stanway, Blindkilde Brown; Hemp, Russo, James.
Subs: Bronze, Moorhouse, Toone, Wubben-Moy, Greenwood, Kelly, Kendall, Mead, Park, Baggaley, Beever-Jones, Fisk
Ukraine (4-2-3-1): Boklach; Savka, Olkhova, Shmatko, Shaynyuk; Kotyk, Zaborovets; Molodiuk, Kohut, Kunina; Boychuk.
Subs: Basanska, Hlushchenko, Holovach, Keliushyk, Khrystiuk, Kotiash, Podolska, Radionova, Samson, Semkiv
Preamble
This will almost certainly not be the end of England’s World Cup qualifying campaign because, barring a strange set of results tonight, they will be heading into the playoffs later this year. The Lionesses are level of points with Spain but sit second thanks to an inferior head-to-head records having been thrashed on Friday in Mallorca.
Sarina Wiegman is set to make changes at Hill Dickinson Stadium tonight. The dreadful result in Spain may have influenced the decision but after a lengthy season, some players will need a rest. England are strong favourites in Liverpool, so rotation is unlikely to harm their chances.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
