England v Japan
Women's International Game
7pm GMT, Friday 11 November 2022
Pinatar Arena, Murcia, Spain

Lionesses head coach Sarina Wiegman spoke to media ahead of her team's game with Japan, which she expects will prove to be a good test for the squad.

With a number of the squad's more experienced players having been ruled out of the match, it will provide an opportunity for others and that's something Wiegman and her staff are keen to exploit.

"For us, it's a chance for other players to come into the team and we can see where they're at compared to people who have been in the team for a long time," she said.

"It's not the World Cup yet, so it's good preparation to see how other players can do.

"We want to take the team to the next level, and individuals to the next level and of course they can do that themselves, but some players are knocking on the door too.

"We have a lot of depth and we want to develop the style of play and help the players to develop too so these two games will give us a lot of information on where we're at.

"We know Japan are very quick and technical, they've done this historically very well.

"So we have to be tight on the ball and get our shape right, then we can defend well as a team and play our game.

"It will be a technical game and different to what we've played in the last monthss so it's good to get a team like Japan across to see where we're at."

England and Bayern Munich midfielder Georgia Stanway is also looking forward to the test in store against a team who the Lionesses last faced at the 2020 SheBelieves Cup in the USA.

"We're enjoying ourselves, being back on the grass together and obviously we've got two tough games ahead," said Stanway.

"Japan are technically unbelievable, they're almost like Spain in the way they pop the ball and the way they move.

"Potentially we might have the upper hand physically, but I think it's going to be a very good game.

"It's another tough opposition and it's just nice to be enjoying some good weather, playing against top teams and seeing what they're all about."

Ahead of the game, check out some of the facts and stats courtesy of Opta...

● England and Japan have met on eight previous occasions in all competitions, with the Lionesses avoiding defeat in seven of those clashes (W5 D2) and winning each of the last three in a row.

● Japan’s only victory against England came back in July 2015 in the World Cup semi-final, winning 2-1 and progressing to the final in the process (lost 5-2 vs USA in the Final).

● England have now played 24 matches under manager Sarina Wiegman and remain undefeated under the Dutchwoman (W21 D3) – scoring 120 goals (5 per game) and conceding just six (0.3 per game) in the process. The last side to defeat England were Canada in April 2021 when Hege Riise was in charge of the Lionesses.

● England have won all six of their matches played outside of the United Kingdom under Sarina Wiegman by an aggregate score of 41-0.

● Japan have gone unbeaten in each of their last 13 games in all competitions (W9 D4), since a 2-0 defeat to Iceland in November 2021 in a friendly match. Indeed, Japan have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three matches in a row.

● Beth Mead has scored 29 goals in all competitions for England, 12 more than any other member of the latest Lionesses’ squad. Indeed, Mead has been directly involved in 37 goals in 23 appearances under Sarina Wiegman (21 goals, 16 assists), 13 more than any other teammate.

● There are four players in Japan’s latest international squad that play in the Barclays Women’s Super League (Mana Iwabuchi, Yui Hasegawa, Risa Shimizu and Honoka Hayashi), with Arsenal’s Mana Iwabuchi making the most BWSL appearances amongst those four (25 apps, 3 goals, 2 assists).