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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
Richard Forrester

Sarina Wiegman keeping hush on 29-game unbeaten run as England thrash Belgium at Ashton Gate

Sarina Wiegman insists she hasn't even mentioned England's impressive unbeaten run with her side after the Lionesses thumped Belgium 6-1 at Ashton Gate to retain the Arnold Clark Cup.

With one more game to play in April against Brazil before their World Cup campaign gets underway, England's run extended to 29 games without defeat in emphatic fashion. The superb Chloe Kelly scored twice, Leah Williamson was also at the double, Lucy Bronze added a fifth while former Bristol City player Julie Biesmans turned into her own net in the second half.

It was one-way traffic throughout despite Elena Dhont scoring the goal of the evening with a brilliant effort in the 90th minute to hand the visitors a consolation. Wiegman's side have won 25 of their 29 matches, scored 137 goals and conceded just nine.

In her post-match press conference, Wiegman asked the reporters how many games England were without defeat and instead claimed there is still room for improvement in her side. She said: "We don't speak about that record at all.

"You keep the data well and of course, it's really nice and you want to win every game that's just the standard of this team. We don't want to win the game because we are 29 games unbeaten, of course, that's really nice so let's play 200 games and win all of them.

"But that's not what we're focused on. We focus on our style of play and how we can improve that in all parts of the game.

England lift the Arnold Clark Cup after a dominant victory (Naomi Baker - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

"In possession, out of possession, in transition, that's what we're talking about all the time to make the chance of winning the next game as high as possible. I am happy with the level we are at at the moment and of course, we have to improve.

"I said before this week that we wanted to try out some new things, we wanted to see lots of new players, some new combinations of players and we also wanted to manage loads and that's exactly what we did.

"I am happy this week, happy with the win but also happy with what we have done this week and how we have worked together in taking the next steps in preparation for the World Cup."

Ahead of the game, Wiegman admitted she still didn't know her best team given the strength in depth at her disposal. The manager has altered her side in the opening two fixtures of the Arnold Clark Cup against South Korea and Italy but tasked her players with maintaining their high standards at club level to earn a spot on the plane for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

She added: "I don't have to make the decisions now, I made the decisions for this tournament and for the next camp I'll make the decisions for April.

"Players go back to their clubs too and go back to their international competitions so there are lots of top-level games to play. At the beginning of June, we have to make decisions, they're really competing and I think we are growing in depth and we already were good in depth.

"It's going to be really hard to make decisions and I think we will have more than 11 players who will start and we have more players that will compete for the selection of 23 players.

"In some positions, if players keep playing the way they are, the chance of being picked for the first 11 is very high, but for some positions, I really don't know yet and I don't have to know.

"I just have to see them over the next month at their club. And then we come back to camp again. There's a lot of competition going on and it's hard to make decisions."

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