China vs England – Women’s World Cup preview: TV channel, live stream, team news & prediction

England need just a point against China in the final round of Group D games to secure their place in the Women’s World Cup knockout rounds for the fifth successive tournament.

Defeat would leave the Lionesses extremely vulnerable to going home early, even with six points to their name, as long as Denmark also beat Haiti as expected.

England have put together successive 1-0 wins so far, beating Haiti and Denmark with goals from Georgia Stanway and Lauren James respectively. Meanwhile, China fell to a late Danish goal in their opening game, before superstar forward Wang Shuang scored from the spot against Haiti.

It’s all to play for in the final round of Group D games and even Haiti aren’t mathematically out of it.

This is the first time these two teams are meeting since 2015 and it is not a head to head in which England have a good record.

Wang Shuang, who remains China’s leading name, scored both goals in the most recent game between them – a 2-1 win on Chinese soil in 2015. Earlier that year, quick goals from Fran Kirby and Jodie Taylor sealed a 2-1 England win in Manchester.

England’s only other encounters with China took place nearly a decade early. China won 2-0 and 1-0 in two games played in 2007, while a previous 2005 fixture in the Algarve Cup finished 0-0, which China then edged in a penalty shootout.

China have a fully fit squad, with only Zhang Rui unavailable as a result of suspension. The 34-year-old midfielder became the oldest player to be sent off in Women’s World Cup history with the red card shown to her in the first half of the Haiti game.

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Keira Walsh was the only England player missing from training ahead of this game. The Barcelona midfielder did not suffer an ACL injury against Denmark, as had been initially feared, and has remained with the squad in the hope she could yet feature again at the tournament.

Former Manchester City teammate Laura Coombs is the player expected to replace her in the starting XI. That will likely mean a slight reshuffle, with Georgia Stanway dropping into the deeper shielding position and Coombs filling the box-to-box role she excelled in at club level in 2022/23.

Wiegman will be tempted to otherwise keep her team the same as against Denmark, having opted to put Rachel Daly at left-back and bring in Lauren James, who proved to be the matchwinner.

England are yet to properly get going at this World Cup and the loss of Keira Walsh is another huge problem that Sarina Wiegman must overcome – it was clear Denmark came into the last game a lot more after Walsh went off because of the control the Lionesses gave up.

But China are not the force they have been in the past and have equally struggled to make much impact so far – they are yet to score from open play and have suffered a similar lack of creativity.

Score prediction: China 0-1 England

WATCH THE LATEST WORLD CUP EDITION OF 90MIN TALKS

Shebahn Aherne is joined by Girls on the Ball, Lizzy Becherano and 90min BR’s Maria Victoria Poli to analyse the second games of the group stage. They discuss how Sarina Weigman will need to rethink the Lionesses’ tactics after Keira Walsh’s knee injury and look ahead at the final round’s fixtures of the group stage. If you can’t see the embed, click here to watch the full show.