Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters
Thank you so much for joining me for this cracker between England and Spain!
The Arnold Clark Cup is still all to play for and anyone could take it. There’s one England match to go, they will play Germany on Wednesday and it’s the Lionesses’ last chance to win the tournament.
But for now, if you want to delve into the England performance we have just seen - read Suzy Wrack’s report here!
England manager Sarina Wiegman told ITV: “A game of a very high level. 0-0 sounds boring but it wasn’t.
“We were dangerous, we had about six chances. First of all we have many player in our squad, the team is very strong.
“We had a plan and I think we did a pretty good job. That’s what we take from it.”
England top the table in the Arnold Clark Cup despite having the same points as Spain. It’s their disciplinary records which separates the teams.
Canada and Germany have the chance to knock the Lionesses off top spot this evening. The kick-off in that game coming at 7.45pm.
England player Lauren Hemp told ITV: “Spain were unbelievable, they played us out the park at times.
“We had plenty of chances but we couldn’t get it away. It was a 0-0 draw, we will take the positives away and we have things to work on but we’ll work on those.
“It’s every kid’s dream to play for England and to do it at the place I call home is amazing.”
Full-time: England 0-0 Spain
The all important winner couldn’t be found and the teams share the spoils.
Spain are the favourites for the Euros and England outplayed them, in my opinion. It was a stellar defensive performance but their final touches in attack let them down. Hampton has proven her worth, as well as Bronze, Hemp and Carter.
Hermoso, Putellas and Del Castillo were the stand out Spanish players. It was a cracking battle with close chances for both sides.
The draw means the Arnold Clark Cup is yet to see a match with a winner. Can Canada and Germany change that this evening?
Updated
90 + 3 min: Hemp has proven she desrves the starting shirt with this second half performance. She has been so slick.
And Earps and Roebuck must be nervous watching Hampton’s debut, she has been almost flawless in this game.
England’s defence continues to stand tall as Spain look for a late winner.
90 +1 min: Four minutes added as England set up a free kick and they need to throw everything at this.
Greenwood takes the kick, White heads the ball but it doesn’t reach Daly.
Spain counter and Del Castillo strikes. I thought that was going in but Hampton has a sensational save. Wow!!
88 min: I honestly can’t believe England haven’t scored from that period of possession. The Lionesses have been the better side, particularly in this second half, but they can’t punish their opponents when they need to.
Spain build from deep and they seem to be winding down the clock, maybe hoping for a late winner? My heart goes in my mouth as Del Castillo almost gets a goal but it goes wide.
Del Castillo is named Player of the Match.
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86 min: Wow! Del Castillo sprints for her life to get to a Putellas pass and she does. As well as that she wins a corner!
England manage to clear the ball but Spain rally it back into the box and Hampton calmly collects it.
Her goal kick is pinpoint to England’s midfield but again the final touch isn’t clean. They come again and White almost gets a head to it. It comes back out to Kirby and she doesn’t take the shot.
Hermoso has come off for Gonzales.
83 min: Del Castillo has been a superb sub for Spain and she does well to create a chance in the box. Her beautiful pass isn’t read by her teammates and England manage to clear.
Over 14,000 at Carrow Road to watch this enthralling battle. A great turnout, considering how awful the weather is.
81 min: Hampton is sensational, it’s hard to believe this is her debut. A ball rockets towards her and she calmly catches to send England on the attack once again.
Ahead of the play, Stanway now comes off for Ella Toone. Emma Hayes has praised the Manchester City star but I don’t think she’s had her best performance.
Greenwood fires the ball and Bronze does amazingly well to fight off two defenders. But the attempt ends in a great defensive move from Rodriguez. So close yet so far.
78 min: Garcia does so well to read the ball being sent it as she prevents Hemp getting a head on target.
They counter well but Carter, who has been amazing in defence, quells the attack once again.
White is clattered in the midfield to win a free kick but again possession is turned over. The ball is pinballing around both teams at the moment.
76 min: England have to build from deep and Bronze wins a header at the halfway to feed Kirby.
The ball bounces back into the midfield with Greenwood’s pass read well to be intercepted.
Spain make another change as L Garcia comes off for Sarriegi.
74 min: England have had momentum for over ten minutes and Wiegman could have sent Kirby on to be clinical with the final touch - the only thing England are missing right now.
Bronze battles to the edge of the box but she doesn’t cross it and it ends up in Spain’s possession.
Though England’s attack is frustrating, their defence are holding up.
72 min: Hemp you beauty! A Spaniard slips and the Manchester City star steals the ball.
She passes to White who waits a second too long to take a shot and is swarmed by red shirts.
So close for England but it just isn’t’ coming together. Another change for England as Beth Mead makes way for Fran Kirby.
70 min: Putellas hunts down the ball but Hampton doesn’t let her presence pressure her and she sends England on an attack.
Mead makes a great break and passes to Bronze who’s attempt find a Spanish player.
Anyone else totally frustrated but the sloppiness of the final pass from the hosts? I may or may not have screamed at the TV.
68 min: Free kick from that Stanway challenge sees Leon take the ball and it sails over the wall.
Hampton reads it well and she collects the effort. Mead has been clattered in the midfield with a free kick going England’s way.
Greenwood takes it but it’s easily cleared.
66 min: It’s gone from keeper to keeper but Spain now look to breach England’s defence. Hermoso makes a great pass but Carter says ‘you shall not pass’ and swarms the ball to halt the danger.
Stanway, who I thought had gone off I apologise for that, has received a yellow for standing on a calf. Not the best match for the star.
63 min: Here they come again, the English defenders must be knackered after this spell from Spain.
Greenwood tackles Putellas excellently to stop the Ballon d’Or winner getting a shot away.
There are changes for both sides as Batlle comes off for Carmona and England put Walsh and Williamson on for Nobbs and Stanway.
Hampton puts in another smashing save - what a debut for the Aston Villa star.
60 min: How, oh how, has L Garcia missed that? England’s defence falters on the third attempt for a goal and the Spaniard found herself with a one-one-one with Hampton.
But she fires the shot way wide. It’s an awful miss which could have seen England out of the game.
Also hearing England are about to make another change, no confirmation on who it is yet.
Updated
58 min: A rare poor touch from Hermoso gifts the ball to Scott who gets it away to Mead, but she coughs up possession through a foul.
She makes up for it with a fantastic challenge as Spain looked to threaten their defences.
This second half is much better from both sides but England are looking the stronger. They need to follow it up with a goal before they lose this momentum!
56 min: In the words of DJ Khaled, another one!
Stanway gets the ball outside of the box and has a chance but Rodriguez collects. It’s been exciting from England in the last few minutes but again it’s the final touch which isn’t clinical enough.
Spain now on the attack, can they punish England?
53 min: Hemp has been a jolt of energy in this England team, livened them up and has also been excellent in defence too.
Another close chance for England as Nobbs gets in a great position. Her slice goes across the face of goal but the hosts are edging closer.
51 min: Well done Daly, she puts a pinpoint challenge on to steal the ball.
England rally and White gets to it but Leon tackles her perfectly to quell the danger. The early chance from Hemp has woken both sides up with chances for both.
An ebb of slow build-up play now with Spain in possession.
49 min: England’s scintillating start to the second 45 has been cooled as Mead gets a yellow for a foul on Hermoso.
The resulting free kick sees a shot come off but Greenwood blocks. Hermoso eventually hits it out of play but Spain are alive and kicking now.
47 min: Immediate impact from Hemp as she snatches the ball just outside the box. She rockets a shot and it rattles the woodwork.
So, so close! The Manchester City star is just breath-taking.
Updated
We are back underway at Carrow Road.
England have made their first change with Parris coming off for Lauren Hemp. It’s disappointing for Parris, who is yet to put her stamp on the 21/22 season.
Spain have also gone to their bench as Cardona is off for Athenea del Castillo.
Will there be a goal in this game? We will find out soon ...
I love a cheeky statistic and boy do I have some good ones for you!
I spoke earlier about there being no clear cut chances for either side and I am happy the numbers are backing me up. There’s only been one shot on target and it was from a Spanish foot.
The visitors have had 66% possession to England 34%, Spain have put in eight fouls to England’s three and each side have had a corner each.
Half-time: England 0-0 Spain
What a defensive performance from England, they have repelled all of Spain’s attacks with Putellas starting to hit her stride.
There haven’t been clear chances for either side and the main headline is how brutal this encounter is. Daly has had an elbow to the face, Batlle is putting in some heavy challenges and White has been cut down more than once.
Can the deadlock be broken in the second half?
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45 min: Spain’s Leon sails the ball into the box but it has too much on it and it goes out of play.
England have a chance to break the deadlock ahead of half-time with a throw in. They work it back to the halfway line and it ends with Bronze hitting it into touch.
But they win the ball back with Mead and Nobbs working well together. However, they can’t get the final touch to it, the story of England’s attack it seems.
One minute added at Carrow Road.
42 min: Putellas has a delightful pass to Cardona who makes a great break and picks out Garcia.
She sends a curling ball towards goal but Hampton catches.
A lot of chat surrounding the bench, who would you like to see make an appearance? Let me know!
40 min: Mead has had a steady match and is ever dependable when in the final third as she crosses again. None of her teammates are in position to get a foot to it but this is more promising from the hosts.
There hasn’t been a break in the deadlock and it is a testament to the England defence. Apart from the miscommunication between Hampton and Carter, it has been perfect.
38 min: Carter deals well with a ball rocketing into the box but it was a deflection from Bronze who calmed the Spanish threat.
Leon sends the ball out of play and Spain work their way back to their keeper. Now England start an attack with Mead firing the ball to White who is a whisker away from scoring.
36 min: Putellas wrestles the ball back after an England throw in and Hermoso almost gets a tap in.
Spain aren’t looking their best but with every touch they are improving. Here they come again ...
Updated
33 min: Scott puts in a dicey challenge and wins the ball back for England but Greenwood is wrestled off the ball. Possession is changing hands faster than I can type!
England finally get a free kick from a challenge, this time Andres on White and the Spaniard receives a yellow card. The kick is taken from halfway and Bronze feeds White with a long kick but, again, the captain is offside.
She scrunches her face up in frustration, the feeling is mutual. The final third mistakes are hampering England.
29 min: How has Batlle not received a yellow with that foul on Mead? She chops the Arsenal star down but the ref doesn’t blow the whistle.
England look to build but White is ruled offside. It’s so frustrating, England put in all the hard work and then can’t quite finish off the play.
They’ll have to do so soon, Spain have scored 97 goals in their last 17 games - a cracking stat!
27 min: Stanway loses the ball in the midfield again and Spain pounce. That’s the second time the Manchester City star has lost it.
While it was an England mistake that led to chance, Hampton shows why she’s in the starting shirt with a fantastic block.
Spain still going through the phases, they have settled into this one and they are building. Will they have the opener?
Updated
24 min: What a play from Spain! Putellas sets up L Garcia for a cross but England clear it and concede a corner - Spain’s first of the match.
Hermoso takes the kick but Greenwood heads away. Parris does well to again repel Spain.
The visitors haven’t got into third gear yet but even in second they look deadly.
22 min: This start from England is impressive. They are all over Spain when they come forward and have had promising moments on the counter and at set-piece.
The question is how long can they keep this up?
If it’s up to Bronze and Parris it will continue the entire match as they team up to muscle the ball out of play for an England goal kick.
19 min: The crowd boos as Bronze is penalised and to be fair it looked like a harsh call from the ref.
It quells the England attack and Spain look to control the ball more.
But then an almost horror moment for England’s defence as a miscommunication nearly ended in a Spain goal! Hampton calls the ball but Carter came into clear it, the ball spilling from both of them. Carter does well to clear it.
Updated
16 min: Wow! I said brilliant moments would come and we’ve just seen one!
England make a break through Nobbs, who has started well, and she passes to Mead who dances around the Spanish defence. Mead crosses in but Rodriguez collects.
The Lionesses then win a corner, which Greenwood takes. Rodriguez jumps and punches the ball away, England throw in to come.
14 min: Daly has had an elbow to the face and she had stayed on the floor since the challenge.
It took a little while for play to stop for her to receive medical attention. She is back on her feet and will continue. What a warrior!
Updated
12 min: This is a brutal match, so many players protesting they are being fouled, the latest being Batlle after Parris went for the ball.
The referee seems reluctant to give free kicks and so the appeals are soon silent.
Is it just me who thinks the game needs a energy injection? It’s quite stop start at the moment. But with these giants battling it’s inevitable we will see some brilliant moments.
10 min: How good is Lucy Bronze? She reads a Batlle play so well and intercepts to give possession back to England.
Greenwood has pulled Cardona’s shirt which is frustrating as the Lionesses need to get a rhythm here.
Spain launch the ball into the box but Hampton handles it well, it’s been a bright start for the keeper so far.
8 min: The free kick sees England retain possession and they are attempting to build attack.
They are nearly through from Nobbs but they recycle the ball with it coming to Scott. She takes a shot but it goes wide. The Aston Villa loanee protests she was challenged but the whistle isn’t blown.
The Lionesses continue to hammer away at Spain’s defence. Yet to have a spark in this match so far.
6 min: Stanway loses the ball in Spain’s half and Hermoso battles her way into the box. this is the first real test of England’s defence and they did well - repelling a shot from Batlle.
Parris then frustrates Spain as England get the ball back as she earns a free kick after being pushed to the floor.
Ivana then concedes another free kick with a heavy challenge on captain White.
4 min: Garcia tries to feed Hermoso but the pass isn’t clinical enough, so the Spanish attack slows. They remain in possession.
At the moment both teams seem to be getting a foot in the game, the intensity isn’t as high as it was in the opening exchanges between England and Canada.
2 min: There was an early chance for England as the ball was fired into the box but Nikita Parris was swarmed so couldn’t get a shot away.
And now the Spanish possession begins. We will see if they continue their record of having the lion share of the ball.
Carter manages a Spain attack well by tapping the ball back to Hampton.
Kick-off! England 0-0 Spain
The stadium isn’t full but there’s a hearty crowd who have made themselves known with the cheers ringing out ahead of the anthems.
Hannah Hampton has a beaming smile as she prepares to make her senior England debut!
We are underway, after the players take a knee, who is your winner?
Kick-off is just over ten minutes away and I for one cannot wait for this one to get going.
England produced a beautiful display against Canada for the first 45 and if they can bring that and sustain it this afternoon we have a proper game on our hands.
There will be long periods the Lionesses don’t have the ball as Spain have 70% possession on average in their matches. So it’ll be a test for the defence.
The teams are on their way out ...
Weather chat alert!
The weather at Carrow Road looks bad as the rain splashes down on the thousands of fans.
It looks may not be great conditions for a monumental test in football but it will still deliver for the hype! Is there a better way to spend a Sunday? I didn’t think so.
Updated
Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas starts for Spain this afternoon and she is excited for the big test.
“England are a great team, one of the best in the world,” said Putellas. “I always love playing against big teams like them.
“I believe that we have improved a lot since [Spain last played England, securing a 1-0 win at] the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. We are a better team now. Tomorrow will be a really tough test. It will be a really high quality contest. We’ll need to be at the top of our game to win. We need to do the little things right.”
Updated
What a day for Hannah Hampton!
She has lit up the Women’s Super League for the past few seasons for Aston Villa with manager Carla Ward and fans championing the goalkeeper to get her senior England debut.
And the day has finally arrived as she will aim to stop shots from the likes of Alexia Putellas. A great opportunity for the star to prove she deserves the shirt over Mary Earps and Ellie Roebuck.
If the captaincy has confused any supporters who didn’t tune into the last fixture, regular skipper Steph Houghton is out with injury.
Leah Williamson took the title against Canada but starts from the bench this afternoon and so Ellen White steps in.
Wiegman hasn’t named an out-and-out captain in her reign which could be because Houghton has been unavailable to display her leadership. I wonder if she’ll bestow the title to one player ahead of the Euros?
If she does, who would you like to see take it? Let me know by sending an email or popping me a tweet!
Lionesses fans may be slightly more nervous about this afternoon’s fixture because of Spain’s fantastic form of late. The goal they conceded against Germany was the first time they haven’t had a clean sheet since March 2020.
It was a phenomenal record and Spain will look to hold onto their unbeaten run in today’s game. But they won’t under-estimate their opponents and England have received the highest praise from Spain’s manager Jorge Vilda, who says he believes the current Lionesses are the best England team ever.
“We’ve prepared well for this game, they’ve been training really well and we’ve been doing exercises based on dealing with high intensity opponents,” said Vilda. “I personally believe that this is perhaps the best England team ever. They’ve got plenty of youth in the side, players who play with coverage.”
Let’s see if they live up to the title today ...
Wiegman was true to her word as England make nine changes.
She explained her decision to shake things up for the match against Spain in the build-up to the match.
She said: “We want to see some things, we want to develop our style of play and we want to see combinations of players together to see how they connect, so tomorrow we have that opportunity and we will make some changes.”
The team news has dropped and boy, oh, boy England have made a whole host of changes!
Nine changes in the starting team and there is also a swap of skipper with all-time Lionesses scorer Ellen White taking the captaincy.
The starting Xi is: Hampton, Daly, Greenwood, White, Bronze, Stanway, Carter, Mead, Parris, Nobbs, Scott.
Substitutes: Earps, Stokes, Walsh, Bright, Kirby, Williamson, Toone, Hemp, Charles, Roebuck, Russo, Zelem.
Spain have announced their team and Jorge Vilda has made four changes
The starting XI is: Rodriguez, Batlle, Leon, Andres, S Garcia, Guijarro, Putellas, Bonmati, L Garcia, Cardona, Hermoso.
Spain’s Twitter haven’t said who is on the bench but I’ll have a research and update as soon as I can!
Updated
Preamble
Welcome back to the Arnold Clark Cup!
England will aim to bag their first win of the tournament, as will their opponents Spain.
The first round of matches saw two 1-1 draws meaning each team are level on points heading into their second fixtures.
Spain had an agonising result as they were leading Germany until the 88th minute. Lea Schuller scored the late equaliser to bag a point for her side after Alexia Putellas had fired Spain ahead. In the later fixture, England were the ones in control at half-time after a stunning Millie Bright strike.
But Canada can never be counted out and Janine Beckie scored a beauty to level the scores.
The brilliant fixture we have in store this afternoon will also have the added layer of the Euro talk with Spain the favourites. It will be a good test for Sarina Wiegman’s side to play the best in Europe, to correct any wrongs before they get it right in the summer.
The manager has said she is making a lot of changes to the team that faced Canada with goalkeeper Hannah Hampton thought to be handed her debut. The starting XI’s will be revealed shortly ahead of kick-off at 3.15pm.
