Sweden manager working out a plan to deal with England’s ‘special’ threat at Euros

England’s next Euros test comes against a Sweden team with maximum points from their three group matches but Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses have weapons of their own

Sweden boss Peter Gerhardsson is grateful he isn’t the one having to mark England’s “special” talent Lauren James on Thursday. James scored twice in England’s 4-0 win over the Netherlands at Stadion Letzigrund, the same ground where they will face off against Sweden for a place in the semi-finals, and caused no end of problems in the 6-1 victory over Wales.

“I’m happy I don’t [have to] handle her!” Gerhardsson said, before comparing her to the other top talents his team needed to neutralise in the group stage. “Pernille Harder [for Denmark], Ewa Pajor for Poland is a special one, Lea Schuller for Germany is a special one, James is also a special player,” he added.

“I like that kind of player because she has something special, movement and things like that, but she’s doing the things she thinks are right on the pitch. As a coach sometimes, you want structure, ‘do that, do that’, James even if she listens to the coach, she makes her own decisions on the pitch and every coach likes that kind of player, but I hope we can handle her.”

While England have star power – not just from James – Sweden’s Kosovare Asllani believes her team’s biggest strengths lie elsewhere after three wins from three in the groups. “It’s always a tough game,” she said.

“England have a lot of talented players whereas our biggest strength lies in the way we play as a team. We can expect a very intense and physical game. We love to play those kind of games. May the best team win.”

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Asllani also played down the suggestion – prompted by Ella Toone’s comments over the weekend – that she and her colleagues should be scared going into the tie. “We respect England and the team they have and everything they have achieved so far,” she added.

“Fear? No. We don’t have the word fear in our dictionary. We look up the word courage.”

England beat Sweden 4-0 at the last Euros but Gerhardsson played down the relevance of that result, pointing to the illness which had afflicted his squad in the build-up. Both he and Asllani have pointed to the team’s improvement in recent years – with England’s players also recognising three years is a long time in football – and the number 10 has echoed comments from the likes of Leah Williamson and Beth Mead about onlookers not giving the Swedes the credit they deserve.

“I feel like Sweden are always flying under the radar I would say. It kind of suits us,” Asllani said. “Obviously we think we’re one of the best teams in the world from what we have been doing. But people rarely speak about us as someone who can win gold.

“We’re flying under the radar and that suits us. We know we can beat any team in the world when we have our best day. We don’t think about it too much. People should definitely talk about us more.”

Predicted XIs: ENGLAND (4-2-3-1): Hampton; Bronze, Williamson, Carter, Greenwood; Walsh, Stanway; James, Toone, Hemp; Russo

SWEDEN (4-2-3-1): Falk; Holmberg, Bjorn, Eriksson, Andersson; Angeldahl, Zigiotti Olme; Rytting Kaneryd, Asllani, Rolfo; Blackstenius

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