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England commence their UEFA Women’s Euro title defence with a home qualifier against Sweden at Wembley Stadium.
Victory could put England or Sweden top of their group depending upon the outcome of France’s clash against Republic of Ireland that same evening.
Team News
Khiara Keating has withdrawn from England’s squad due to a knee injury, with Southampton’s Kayla Rendell called up in her place.
Sweden will be without defender, Nathalie Bjorn after she withdrew from the squad due to a calf injury which she suffered in Chelsea’s Women’s FA Cup Quarter-Final win at Everton last month.
When is Kick-Off?
England host Sweden at Wembley Stadium on Friday 5 April at 8pm BST, live on ITV1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is England’s first Women’s Euro qualifier against Sweden, with both teams having previously avoided each other in Qualifying Phases.
- Sweden are unbeaten in six of nine previous meetings away to England on English soil (W4, D2, L3).
- This is the first time that England has began the Qualifying phase of a major tournament as defending champions.
- Rachel Daly has scored the last goal in each of England’s last two matches (W2), which came in friendly wins over Austria and Italy in February 2024.
- Filippa Angeldahl and Pauline Hammarlund have scored in each of Sweden’s last two matches in all competitions (W2).
Prediction
If England thought their Women’s Nations League was brutal, this group is surely the ‘group of death’ to end all ‘group of death’ groups in any major football competition because there is no room for any faltering if want automatic qualification for the Euros.
Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses though should hold little fear after ruthlessly breezing past Austria and Italy in friendlies in February, but their defending does need to be more resilient especially after some poor set pieces in those friendlies.
Sweden however are amongst Europe’s finest footballing pedigrees on the women’s side of the sport and cruised past Bosnia & Herzegovina in the relegation play-offs, especially after they struggled in their Women’s Nations League group last autumn.
That experience will therefore motivate the Swedes to avoid a similar fate in this Women’s Euro qualifying campaign, which England should be wary of so I do expect this to be a closely fought battle between two teams who seem to have bounced back so far in 2024.
Throw France into the mix too for just two automatic qualification spots then England must make home advantage count in this group, of which I see them doing if can play like they did in February but don’t expect this to be easy.
Prediction: England 2-1 Sweden
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