Key events
Tom Garry
17 mins: That feels like it’ll be the first of many. Lauren James’ cross was sumptuous. But Ukraine can’t even get close to her. It could be a long night for the visitors. The home fans here really enjoyed that goal and they’re all on their feet but England can’t get too excited to be ahead – Spain are already winning in Iceland.
16 mins: I think it is fair to say the goal was coming.
Russo is the next to have a chance but her header loops well wide.
GOAL! England 1-0 Ukraine (Carter, 14)
Hemp wins another corner. Le Tissier decides to take another one short to James. This forward shows some trickery before chipping a cross to the back post from where Carter nods home across the goalkeeper.
12 mins: England have a corner on the right. Le Tissier takes it short to James who pings it towards the far top corner, only to see her shot bounce off bar and post into the goalkeeper’s arms.
10 mins: The free-kick comes to nothing but England continue to attack.
The space is outwide for England, may I suggest James drifts further over to the left. She would be more dangerous than Charles out there.
8 mins: Hemp aims for Russo in the box but a Ukrainian head meets the cross. I will guess the possession stats as being Eng 98%-2% Ukraine.
Le Tissier is crudely taken down by Boychuk just outside the box.
Spain are ahead in Iceland. No surprise there.
6 mins: Charles is starting very high on the left and being allowed to push forward from full-back. England will have plenty of freedom to attack considering the lack of ambition among the Ukrainians.
4 mins: Ukraine try to break but Le Tissier is there to tidy up.
England start again from the back from move up the pitch in a composed manner. Hemp has a cross blocked but the ball is recycled and ends up back with the City winger, who shoots from 20 yards only to hit it straight at the goalkeeper.
2 mins: A positive start from England as they pushed forward to put pressure on the Ukrainian backline. The visitors are keen to defend as deep as humanly possible.
Hemp puts in a dangerous cross from the right but it drifts over everyone inside the box.
Kick off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
Tom Garry
Smoke fills the air as fireworks jet out from the side of the pitch as the players emerge to a crowd of around 30,000. The upper tier is mostly empty, but the lower bowl is busy. Ukraine’s players each have their national flag wrapped around them as they sing their anthem, which receives a generous round of applause from the home fans.
The Ukraine players, each clad in a national flag, sing the national anthem.
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.