England v Denmark: women's international friendly – live!

2 mins: A decent spell of pressure from Denmark culminates with a speculative but well-struck curler from Troelsgaard that sails just over.

England get things going with some zippy passing along the backline before Svava steals possession once the Lionesses advance.

The teams are out, the anthems are being sung, and kick-off is imminent.

Phil Neville on his selection: “It’s a reward for the team that played against Spain – I’ve only made three changes. I wanted to see Millie [Bright] and Leah [Williamson] play together. The players that need the games are going to be playing, and we want to keep everyone on their toes.” On leaving out his captain Steph Houghton, he says: “She’s played in every game this season. When we get to the big games in the World Cup I need to know she’ll be fresh. She’ll be starting next week against New Zealand.”

And here’s this week’s Dispatch From the World of Football Ticketing

That interview also features Kirby talking about equal pay. “Ultimately we need to grow the women’s game,” she says. “That’s the biggest issue, it always has been. Then you can talk about equal pay and everything else. We need to win the World Cup to have a leg to stand on in those situations.”

A spot of pre-match reading. Fran Kirby, who starts on the bench today but will surely figure, speaks to our correspondent Suzanne Wrack about the pain of England’s recent near-misses:

A big chance then for Ellen White up front, who scored what proved to be the winner in the Lionesses’s last game, against Spain. She’s just joined City – ostensibly to replace Nikita Parris, who plays alongside her today – but has endured an injury-hit season after being named WSL player of the year and topping the scoring charts two years ago.

England: Bardsley (GK), Daly, Williamson, Bright, Stokes, Scott, Moore, Parris, Stanway, Mead, White.

Denmark: Abel (GK), Snerle, Arnth, Sevecke, Troelsgaarde, Harder, Junge, Sorensen, Ballisager, Bruune, Svava.

Not long now. With the World Cup just a fortnight away, and England’s Lionesses heading into the tournament as the bookie’s fourth-favourites, all that’s left for Phil Neville’s side to do is heighten their form, fitness and focus. To that end, today gives us the first of two warmup games – the other being against New Zealand next weekend – with which Neville can fine-tune his formula.

And it’s a pretty exciting formula. The loss of Jordan Nobbs to an ACL rupture is a blow but England’s attacking riches remain such that Neville could afford to leave Beth England, the WSL’s third top scorer this term, out of his squad entirely. A large reason for that is the explosive Nikita Parris, who is coming off the back of a campaign where she’s scored at a goal-a-game rate and will see this summer as a chance to truly announce herself to the world.

Elsewhere, positive signs abound. Fran Kirby claims she is in the best shape of her career. Beth Mead has just picked up a WSL medal with Arsenal, while Lucy Bronze and Toni Duggan made it to last week’s Champions League final, where the former’s all-conquering Lyon team – whom Parris has just upped sticks to join – did the business in style. And the gang were put through their paces this week by the Royal Marines – so no excuses for any fatigue today.

Today’s opponents, Denmark, will not be heading to France this summer, having failed to quality for three successive World Cups, but don’t let that fool you. they showed their credentials with a fine display at the 2017 Euros, where they were beaten in the final by England semi-final nemeses, the Netherlands. They’ll be dangerous in attack, with former PSG striker Nadia Nadim and captain Pernille Harder having chalked up 82 international goals between them – the latter closing in on the team’s all-time record – while the veteran midfielder Sanne Troelsgaard Nielsen scores at a not-too-shabby one-in-three rate for her country.