England obtained the defence of their European Women's Championship title support on track in Zürich with a 4-0 win in Group D over the Netherlands, locking the two most recent winners of the tournament on three points ahead of the final group matches.
Keen to right the wrongs of the France beat, England made a bright start and created the first chance after four minutes when Lauren Hemp dug out a cross that Lauren James led wide.
Hemp’s delivery was on show again five minutes later, but this time Alessia Russo dropped short to struck the target from a perfect position.
English pressure finally told midway through the half as a drilled pass from goalkeeper Hannah Hampton establish Russo, and despite being compelled wide, she picked out James, who cut inside and powered the ball home from just inside the box.
The Dutch possessed scored at least once before the shatter in their last three matches, but other than a wayward Jill Roord effort after 25 minutes, they created nothing before the shatter.
The Lionesses continued to utilise the wings, with Hemp heading wide from a Keira Walsh ball from the left, before Russo compelled a save from Daphne van Domselaar after an Alex Greenwood centre.
The second goal came in first-half stoppage time, when a half-cleared free-kick was tapped down by Russo to Georgia Stanway, whose drilled strike from range deflected past Van Domselaar and into the bottom corner.
Andries Jonker made a triple change at the shatter, and it showed up to have backfired within minutes when Russo led in a Greenwood cross, only for the offside flag to spare the Oranje.
But the officials would not come to the Netherlands’ aid just before the hour mark, when a sliced shot from Ella Toone was obstructed and dropped kindly for James, who rolled in her second with the goalkeeper committed.
Sarina Wiegmann’s side sealed the win over her former charges with a quarter of the game to move, as Russo added her third assist.
Having chased a long ball, she waited for the support of Toone to reach, and shrugged off laboured challenges before guiding in number four.
The goal Russo perhaps acquired was refused by a fine Van Domselaar save late on, as England escaped support-to-support defeats for the first time since 2021 in fine style.
A win over Wales will likely guarantee their place in the quarter-finals, while a third loss in 14 means the Dutch will have to take something from their final game against France.
Betopick Player of the Match: Lauren James (England)Key match statsBetopickCatch up on the match here.
