England continue their qualification campaign for Euro 2017 tomorrow afternoon when they take on Bosnia & Herzegovina at Ashton Gate, Bristol.

It is the Lionesses' homecoming, their first game in their own country since their incredible World Cup exploits in the summer, and to add to the occasion even more, the nine women who have earned 100 caps for their nation will be honoured before kick-off.

With the fixture carrying plenty of significance on many levels, Mark Sampson's side will hope to cap this off with a win on the day, and everyone will expect nothing less from the overwhelming favourites of the group.

Qualifying so far

Things have worked out strangely in Group 7 of qualifying for Euro 2017, as England have played just the one game so far whereas Bosnia have played four.

The Lionesses' one and only result was an emphatic one nonetheless as they cruised past Estonia with an 8-0 thrashing. Danielle Carter stole the show with a hat-trick in Tallinn back in September, Fran Kirby bagged a brace and Jo Potter, Jill Scott and Isobel Christiansen added the rest.

However, results have been similar against all teams for Estonia, with Bosnia themselves putting four past the group's bottom side with no reply last month.

Sunday's visitors come into the game having beaten Serbia 1-0 on Wednesday, but their other two results in the group were both drubbings at the hands of Belgium.

Belgium are expected to take second spot in this group and give England a good couple of games, but they are still seen as inferior to the Lionesses. Thus, the fact that they defeated Bosnia 6-0 at home and 5-0 on the road in September and October respectively suggests that England are in for another comfortable win tomorrow.

England looking to establish themselves amongst elite

This year has been a monumental one for the England women's national team, who have made great strides in the game to establish themselves at the very top on the international scene.

Previously seen as way off the world's best, particularly in a technical sense, the Lionesses' third placed finish at this summer's World Cup suggested anything but, especially with them dispatching Germany to get that Bronze medal.

On Thursday, Sampson's side travelled to meet their European rivals again in Duisburg, and whilst they were not victorious this time, the goalless draw in Germany showed that that gap between England and the big nations, the likes of France, world champions the USA and Japan, is narrowing rapidly.

Though qualification for major tournaments is a much more straight forward process for the team, with the sides they face largely inferior and nowhere near the quality of the top five that they have established themselves amongst, the Lionesses will want to bounce back from that draw with a win tomorrow, and an emphatic one at that which shows exactly why they are the best team in Europe.

The opposition - Bosnia

Unlike the men's team, Bosnia's women's side are not littered with talent that shines across the continent, but that is not to say that they don't post a threat for England to think about.

The majority of the players called up ply their trade in their homeland for WFC SFK 2000 Sarajevo, the club who have dominated women's football in Bosnia by winning the league title every year since 2002, as well as a record 12 domestic cups and three Super Cups.

As a result, a lot of the squad have experience in playing in the Champions League and boast a winning mentality which derives from their domestic success.

Elsewhere, 18-year-old Antonela Radeljić plays for Croatian champions ŽNK Osijek, who reached the round of 32 in the Champions League last season, whilst another defender Anđela Šešlija is playing in America, at the heart of women's football, for Worcester Academy.

Their highest profile player is a defender too, Lidija Kuliš. The 23-year-old currently turns out for Germany's 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, where she is a regular starter, and was a Frauen-Bundesliga champion with them back in 2012. With this defensive quality, Bosnia will be tough to break down, that much is certain.

The goal threat comes from striker Milena Nikolić who plays her club football for Serbia's top team, ŽFK Spartak Subotica.

Spartak are currently searching for their sixth successive league title, sitting six points clear at the top of the standings after 12 games, and came close to causing a massive upset in the Champions League this year when they held VfL Wolfsburg to a goalless draw in the first leg of their round of 32 tie - albeit, losing 4-0 in the return leg.

Nikolić is averaging two goals a game this season, having bagged 24 already, though 11 of those did come in the 25-0 thrashing of Mačva last month. Still, she is on fire and full of confidence, which is always going to be a problem for England.

However, with an average age of 22.4 in their squad, Bosnia are a young and inexperienced nation who promise a lot, but ultimately lack established players.

As well as this, they have selected a squad of only 18 players and so the travelling, having played away at Serbia in midweek, and the fact that they only played a few days ago could take a toll on their energy levels, which will be heavily inferior to an England side boasting several professionals anyway.

The visitors will need a lot of commitment and effort to keep the Lionesses out before breaking on the counter, but the hosts will be confident of over-powering them with quality anyway, never mind their fitness.

Team news

Ahead of the Germany friendly on Thursday, England were forced to make a change to their squad as Claire Rafferty pulled out with a knee injury and was replaced by Arsenal's Jemma Rose.

However, other than that, Sampson has a full strength squad at his disposal again, with Toni Duggan and Fara Williams both returning from injury in time for the double-header.

There are also spots for Notts County defender Amy Turner and Sunderland goalkeeper Rachael Laws, whilst Chelsea's Gilly Flaherty keeps her place after impressing in a friendly tournament in China last month.

After putting out a full strength team against the Germans in that goalless draw, the manager may choose to rotate in this game given it is against a lesser opponent, and so younger and inexperienced players will hope to get a taste of football at international level.

It will be particularly interesting to see if Sampson sticks with the 3-5-2 set-up that was used in Duisburg too, something that he has experimented with a lot since the summer and may be looking to enforce on the team.

Kick-off for this match will be at 3:30PM BST on Sunday afternoon at Ashton Gate, Bristol.