England open their World Cup campaign against Auld Enemy Scotland in France on Sunday.
The game in Nice is a sell out and Phil Neville’s Lionesses arrive as one of the favourites for the title.
Neville insists they will not be under-estimating their opponents but they arrive in confident mood.
“We have nothing to fear,” Neville said. “The crowd and media are behind us, we are going into a major tournament as the best-prepared team.
“The first game is the most difficult – you’ve nerves, you’ve trepidation, so to get the first one out of the way with a good result is even better.
“It’s difficult to bounce back from a bad result in a tournament. Past winners have lost group games – we’re fully aware of that – but getting off to a good start would settle everyone down and then we can go on and tackle the rest.”
Scotland have been taken to the World Cup for the first time ever by Shelley Kerr, and she is hopeful they will make it through the group stages.
“You can’t just go to a World Cup and say you’re just there to enjoy it,” said Kerr.
“Our priority is getting out of the group stage.”
We run through every game including predictions from former England, Crystal Palace and Tottenham midfielder Andy Gray, our own Football Insider Graeme Bailey and BoyleSports’ Lawrence Lyons.
England 17:00 Scotland
Stade de Nice
KEY FACT: This is Scotland’s first ever game at a World Cup finals
MATCH ODDS: England 1/4 Draw 4/1 Scotland 10/1
BoyleSports pick: England to win & Both Teams To Score @11/5
ANDY SAYS: England will start well here, and will be far too strong…3-0
GRAEME SAYS: The Lionesses are a class act, and they could be way too strong for the Scots…4-1
