England face Belgium in a double-header over the coming days, with the first match taking place on Friday at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium before the Lionesses travel to Leuven on Tuesday for the return fixture.
After playing their last home game in Sunderland against Scotland, manager Sarina Wiegman says it is important to take the team around the country and allow as many fans as possible to experience seeing their idols.
“It gives the opportunity for people across the country to come and watch us live, [because] when you come and watch live you have an experience, you feel the energy,” Wiegman said.
“It’s very exciting for us too because now again we are playing in a sold-out stadium, which is really incredible.
“We just hope we play a good game, fans have a great evening and go home satisfied with the performance we had.”
Wiegman revealed Chelsea forward Lauren James will miss both matches with concussion, while Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy is being assessed in training following an ankle injury.
“Lotte’s on the pitch, you saw that on Tuesday,” said Wiegman. “We’ll assess her [on Thursday] and hopefully she gets all right.
“[Lauren James’ concussion is] nothing to worry about. As you know, we have to be very careful with the protocols, as we always do – and it’s just too short for the two upcoming games.”
Belgium are top of Group A1 after beating the Netherlands and drawing with Scotland last month, while England followed up a victory over Scotland with defeat by the Dutch.
“Belgium are really competing for something now in the Women’s Nations League and not friendlies,” said Wiegman.
“They are in a different situation in the moment, they went through a transition. They play in a different shape, are very competitive, very organised and are tough in duels too. As they showed in September, they are very hard to beat.”
England are hoping to bounce back from that defeat by the Netherlands, while goalkeeper Earps admitted “we can do better” after five matches without a clean sheet.
“Obviously we all like keeping clean sheets and that’s what we always try to do. We obviously haven’t got that right just yet,” said Earps.
“A clean sheet doesn’t define a performance in any way. There’s lots of different factors, but ultimately we know we can do better. We are always looking to improve and strive.
“That’s the exciting thing about it because we know we haven’t hit the levels we’d like to. That’s what we’re focusing on doing.”