England vs Germany Preview: Wembley awaits historic Lionesses fixture

A record-breaking crowd is expected at Wembley on Saturday evening as the Lionesses host Germany in their final home friendly of the year. Kick-off at 19:30 GMT.

England vs Germany Preview: Wembley awaits historic Lionesses fixture
Image: Getty Images/NurPhoto
hannahpinnock
By Hannah Pinnock

England host Germany at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, November 9 in the Lionesses' final home fixture of the year.

The FA are hopeful attendance for this game will break the record for a Women's football game in this country.

The record is currently 80,023, achieved when the USA played Japan to claim gold at the London 2012 Olympics.

As the International schedule edges closer to a conclusion for the year, Phil Neville will be hopeful his side can end 2019 with wins against Germany and the Czech Republic.

Team News

It's good news for the Lionesses as Ellen White, Georgia Stanway and Gemma Bonner were all recalled to the squad ahead of the game.

White and Stanway have missed the last few international breaks through injury so it's a welcome return to the squad.

Toni Duggan, however, has withdrawn due to a lower back injury.

The forward missed England's games against Brazil and Portugal in October but had returned to fitness in recent weeks for Atletico Madrid.

The Germany coach, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, confirmed in her press conference on Friday afternoon that she has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Previous Meetings

England will no doubt be one of the visitor's favourite opponents, having won 20 of 25 meetings.

The two sides have played out four draws and the Lionesses' only victory against Germany came in 2015 as they overcame their European counterparts 1-0 in the third-place play-off in the Canada World Cup.

England and Germany last met in the 2018 SheBelieves Cup where the two sides played out a 2-2 draw, both of the Lionesses' goals were scored by White.

The DFB have won all six of their games on English soil and they'll be looking to continue that run when they take on Neville's side on Saturday night.

Germany flying, England struggling

Since the summer's World Cup in France, both teams' form couldn't be more different.

After suffering a 2-1 defeat to Sweden in the quarter-finals, Germany have gone four games unbeaten and are yet to concede a goal.

In that run, they have beaten Montenegro 10-0 in their first Euro's Qualifier, recorded two 8-0 wins home and away to Ukraine and put five past Greece in their last outing in October.

Things haven't been so positive for England however, as they've lost two, drawn one and won one since their World Cup campaign came to an end.

A run of five games without a win came to an end when they scraped past Portugal 0-1 last month.

What the England coach had to say

Neville wants his team to enjoy the occasion but has highlighted the importance of his team putting on a good performance.

He said to the press on Friday: "A lot has been made about the amount of people coming to the game, I think from a team point of view from the minute we met up last Monday we've been focussing probably more on letting other people enjoy what's going to be a historical occasion and us focussing on putting in a performance.

"When you get to games like this my experience tells me you've got to forget the sideshow and the circus that's going on around this occasion tomorrow, and as players we've got to be 100% focused on producing a good performance and winning the game."

Another Milestone for Women's football

Preparations are well and truly underway for what is set to be a momentous day for Women's football in this country.

TV viewing records were smashed over the summer, but with the FA confirming 86,619 tickets have been issued, another record will hopefully be broken tomorrow night.

After facing Germany, England will travel across Europe to face the Czech Republic on Tuesday night and will hopefully end 2019 with two more wins under their belt.