All smiles as England’s Lionesses train at the Lensbury ahead of tomorrow night’s quarter-final showdown against Spain

by Eli Haidari

The scorching heat in West London did not prevent the Lionesses from enjoying preparations at their Lensbury base in nearby Teddington this morning, ahead of tomorrow night's quarter-final showdown against Spain. 

With temperatures reaching as high as 37 degrees earlier on today in south west London, Sarina Wiegman and her side were all smiles as they undertook a light training session. 

England rewrote the record books after a dominant display throughout the group stages. A record of 14 goals scored without reply is quite a statement, however, the squad will be under no illusions that tomorrow night's opponents will pose as their biggest test yet. 

Spain huffed and puffed their way through Group B whilst dealing well with adversity after losing Jennifer Hermoso and then star talent, Alexia Putella. 

La Roja entered the tournament as the bookies favourite but are now seen as widely written off, making Jorge Vilda's women a dangerous prospect. 

Speaking ahead of tomorrow night's highly anticipated fixture, England coach Sarina Wiegman said: "I do think Spain will have the ball a lot; that's just how they play with their possession and tightness on the ball, which is okay. 

"But I do expect we will have more of the ball than 20% (like the last time the teams met) because I think we're pretty tight on the ball too.

"We prepare for the game and we want to play our best game. If necessary, we know we have the players that can really impact the game or give an extra boost. We've shown that in all the other games before, so that's absolutely something we will keep in mind. It's a strength of our team."

Watch England vs Spain live tomorrow night on BBC one with build-up starting from 7pm at the Brighton & Hove Community Stadium and kick-off at 8pm. 

Both sides will be battling it out for a semi-final spot (Tuesday 26th July) where they will face the winners of quarter-final three, Sweden vs Belgium, in Sheffield. 

All photos courtesy of Nicholas Dillon.