England’s women begin their campaign in the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup tonight as they take on Canada at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough.
The new invitational tournament, which also includes Germany and Spain, takes a round-robin format and will form a crucial part of the Lionesses’ preparation for this summer’s European Championship on home soil.
England have been in magnificent form since Sarina Wiegman took charge in September, winning all six of their games under the Dutch coach without conceding a goal but tonight’s meeting with the Olympic champions will present by some distance their sternest test to date.
The Canadians drew with Great Britain in the group stage of the Olympics in Tokyo, but went on to win gold, knocking out favourites USA in the semi-final before beating Sweden on penalties in the final itself.
