Millie Bright ruled out of England's crucial Nations League games with Millie Turner called into squad

November 24, 2023

Millie Bright has been ruled out of England's UEFA Women's Nations League double-header against the Netherlands and Scotland.

Bright, who captained the Lionesses at the World Cup in the absence of Leah Williamson, will remain at Chelsea for treatment on a knee injury.

Manchester United defender Millie Turner has been called up as a replacement and will report with the rest of the England squad to St George's Park on Monday.

The 23-player squad will face the Netherlands at Wembley Stadium on Friday 1 December before the Nations League group stage concludes with a trip to Scotland on Tuesday 5 December. Sarina Wiegman's side may need a win there to qualify for the Nations League finals and keep Team GB's hopes of reaching the 2024 Olympics alive.

England squad in full

Goalkeepers: Mary Earps (Manchester United), Hannah Hampton (Chelsea), Khiara Keating (Manchester City).

Defenders: Millie Turner (Manchester United), Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Jess Carter (Chelsea), Niamh Charles (Chelsea), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City), Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United), Esme Morgan (Manchester City), Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal).

Midfielders: Grace Clinton (Tottenham), Fran Kirby (Chelsea), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), Ella Toone (Manchester United), Keira Walsh (Barcelona), Katie Zelem (Manchester United).

Forwards: Rachel Daly (Aston Villa), Lauren Hemp (Manchester City), Lauren James (Chelsea), Chloe Kelly (Manchester City), Beth Mead (Arsenal), Alessia Russo (Arsenal).

What Lionesses need to do to progress

England's destiny to get to the Nations League finals is out of their hands following a 3-2 defeat by Belgium last month.

They will need to top the group to go through to the Nations League semi-finals. To guarantee to make it through to next year's Olympic Games, they will have to go through to the final of the Nations League.

England need to win both of their remaining group games to stand any chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Wiegman: The urgency to win is higher, but our approach will not change

England head coach Sarina Wiegman:

"We absolutely do [need to win the last two games]. In the Belgium game, the difference from us to them was so big and we just didn't win it, which is not good, of course.

"That last result was not really a reflection of how we were in camp. So, yes, we are in a situation where we absolutely need wins and we know that. Whenever we go into a camp, we want to win games and we haven't done that lately in our games, so that's really what we want to do.

"But our approach will not all of a sudden change. We get prepared for the Netherlands first and the process will not be different because we still do good things, we just have to do better in moments of the game. In the final third, we create a lot of chances and we want to be more ruthless, but we have to be aware of the counter-attack and keep the ball better and be tighter on the ball.

"I'm always critical of myself. Even when we win, there are always things where you think we should have done this or done that, but that's really easy after a game or after a camp. The urgency to win is higher, but we are always under pressure to win games and we always want to win games. That's the expectation from the outside world, but also from ourselves, so it's pretty challenging.

"I'm actually really looking forward to the next camp. Hopefully Wembley is sold out again because it is almost sold out now and, of course, the team will be very eager to get a good result - and so will I."

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