England manager confirms key striker ruled out of Scotland clash, as captain makes 'domination' claim

Scotland Women will face England Lionesses tomorrow night at a sold out Stadium Of Light in Sunderland.

England Lionesses head coach Sarina Wiegman has confirmed key striker Alessia Russo has been ruled out of tomorrow’s clash with Scotland in the UEFA Nations League.

Scotland will travel to the Stadium Of Light in Sunderland tomorrow night for the inaugural game in the competition with a crowd of 48,000 plus expected in the North East of England but the Dutch boss has confirmed Arsenal striker Russo will not make the game.

"Alessia is fine. She is good but before camp I have had a conversation with her and I have decided she needs a little more rest" said Wiegman, who admitted the decision to rule the 24-year-old was her own.

"She won't be available for tomorrow and we will be preparing for her availability (against Netherlands) on Tuesday" added the 53-year-old England head coach.

Russo, who played every game for the Lionesses at the World Cup which finished only last month, was in action for new club Arsenal just weeks after the tournament with the Gunners taking part in the UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying stages where they lost out to Paris FC on penalties.

On Russo, Wiegman added: "She’s a human-being and it is physical and mental, you can’t view them separately. We had a conversation and as I always say, we have a team programme and we modify individually.

“With the games coming up, we talked about the calendar. It is such a short turnaround that you have conversations with players, monitor them and you get a feeling for them. You have conversations and you become aware of things. I made the decision that it was not right (to select her), she really needs a couple of days’ rest which means that she won’t be available for Scotland.

“You want to perform at the highest level and players need to perform at the highest level. You have to do what’s right and take care of players too" added Wiegman.

The game will mark the Lionesses first clash with Scotland since the World Cup of 2019 and England captain Millie Bright has admitted she was pleased to see the legal dispute between the Scotland Women's team and the Scottish FA has been resolved.

"It's massive. One thing in the women's game is that although we are opponents and sort of enemies on game day, we all work together in terms of the changes that we make within our environment could be beneficial to somebody else and I think it's always about growing the game and we have to keep evolving and moving with where the game is at and changes that need to be made.

"It's a really proud and positive movement for the girls" added the Chelsea star though she admitted, at least on the pitch, the rivalry between the nations will add extra fire to the Nations League clash in Sunderland.

"We want to win. We want to dominate the game but the rivalry makes it a little extra bit firey and it is two opponents that want to win the game" said the Chelsea star.

Scotland take on England tomorrow, with coverage of the game live on STV/ITV from 7.30pm.