Arnold Clark Cup game day two sees England's Lionesses take on Italy at the CBS Arena on Sunday. The host nation top the table ahead of the game after their 4-0 win over Korea Republic, while Italy are third after suffering a 2-1 loss to Belgium on Thursday.
Keira Walsh missed out on England’s opening game with an illness but England Boss Sarina Wiegman hinted the midfielder is back in contention to start on Sunday: "Everyone is available to train. We're happy to have her [Walsh] out on the pitch. It’s really nice for her to be back.
"She wants to be part of the team and we want to see her play so it’s really nice to have her on the pitch too."
In previous press conferences, the England manager has hinted at player rotation and squad experimentation throughout the Arnold Clark Cup in preparation for the summer’s World Cup. When Walsh missed out on the opening game, captain Leah Williamson slotted into the midfield role and Alex Greenwood filled in the left-back role to allow Rachel Daly to move into an attacking position, once again displaying the depth of talent in England’s squad.
Greenwood said: "It’s a position I’ve played most of my career anyway so it becomes natural. I’ve got good teammates around me to support me to do that."
Wiegman added: "You want players to be exceptional in the positions they play but if they can play in more positions then we can be flexible. We can stay strong on the pitch or bring substitutions in."
Looking back on the opening game, manager Sarina Wiegman said: "I think we did really well [on Thursday]. We have played a couple of teams that play really deep and South Korea played even deeper than we thought they would. The pitch didn’t help either but we did a great job.
"In the second half, we played better as we had more numbers up front. The whole team just sprinted to come behind the ball when we lost the ball and that shows how eager the team are and that's very exciting to work with."
Sunday's rivals Italy are known for being fast on the counter armed with a talented attacking threat with a mass of Champions League experience. "Of course, they have good players. They are pretty experienced with attacking players. But we bring it back to how we want to play, by being aware of their strengths and trying to exploit some of their possible weaknesses," said Wiegman with a smile.
England face Italy at the CBS Arena on Sunday the 19th of February kicking off at 3:15 pm followed by Korea Republic and Belgium at the same venue, which will kick-off is at 6:15 pm.
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