Key stats and facts ahead of England Women v Spain in the Arnold Clark Cup

England Lionesses are back in Arnold Clark Cup action on Sunday when they face one of the world’s most in-form teams, Spain. Here Opta run through some of the key stats ahead of the contest between two of the best sides in Europe.

The last time England women’s senior team faced Spain was in March 2020 in the SheBelieves Cup, when Alexia Putellas scored the game’s only goal.

That was the start of Spain’s remarkable winning run of 16 matches which was only halted on Thursday when they drew 1-1 with Germany in the opening game of the Arnold Clark Cup.

Later that night, England also drew 1-1 against Olympic champions Canada, meaning whoever wins this contest will go top of the table in the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup.

Here Opta run through some key statistics and facts ahead of the game at Norwich City’s Carrow Road, with tickets still available for as little as £10 for adults and £5 for children.

- England Women have played Spain 14 times in total, winning six times while only being beaten on three occasions, with five draws. 

- Spain have never beaten England Lionesses away from home in six previous attempts, losing each of their last such matches – most recently a friendly in April 2019, with Beth Mead and Ellen White netting for the Lionesses.

- This will be England Women’s fourth match at Carrow Road and the first since March 2006, beating Iceland in a friendly under Hope Powell. They had lost their previous two matches there against Norway and Nigeria.

- England’s six-game winning run to start Sarina Wiegman’s tenure came to an end with a draw against Canada last time out. The last England Women’s manager to go unbeaten across their first seven games in charge was Ted Copeland between September 1993 and October 1994 (eight games without defeat to start his tenure).

- Spain are currently unbeaten in 17 matches, winning 16 of those, scoring 97 goals in total across this run (5.7 goals per game).

- England are unbeaten in seven matches (W6 D1) and could go eight without defeat for the first time since April 2018 to November 2018 under Phil Neville (eight matches – W6 D2).

- Spain’s Esther González has scored 13 goals and provided a further five assists across her last seven starts for the national team. She is Spain’s top scorer since the start of 2021 with 14 goals in total.

- Ellen White has scored 12 goals across her last eight starts for England, netting two hat-tricks in this run – one against Northern Ireland last February and another in her most recent start against Latvia in November.