England boss Sarina Wiegman has confirmed Hannah Hampton could be back available to face Australia at Pride Park on Tuesday in the second of their October friendlies.
The 24-year-old goalkeeper missed Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Brazil at the Etihad Stadium with a minor elbow issue which saw Khiara Keating earn her first cap for England.
It was the Lionesses’ first defeat on home soil since losing 4-3 to Germany at Wembley Stadium in October 2024 and they will be looking to put it right against 2023 World Cup semi-finalists Australia at a sold-out Pride Park.
Wiegman insisted Hampton could return to the fold on Tuesday if she came through the last training session on Monday unscathed.
She said: “She is progressing really well, has ticked all the boxes so far. Today there’s another training session which she has to come through but things look really good.
“We are still one day to go and today we have a good session for her today. If things go well, then she will be available tomorrow.
“She’s a good goalkeeper. First task of a goalkeeper is to keep the ball out of the net, together with the team.
“She’s also very good with her feet, the long-distance kicks and also playing possession game. That’s a super strength of hers.”
England have gone behind in each of their last four outings, including their come-from-behind victories in the Euros this summer over Sweden, Italy and Spain, and then against Brazil on Saturday.
England conceded two goals in the first 18 minutes against Brazil on Saturday as their homecoming after Euro 2025 ended in defeat
The Lionesses have been accused of starting slowly but Wiegman disagreed and admitted she enjoys the challenge that top countries like Brazil and Australia pose.
She added: “I think the Spain game, we started well and we could’ve scored 1-0. The Italy game we could’ve scored 1-0. The Sweden game we didn’t start that well. The France game we started really well and scored a goal.
“So I don’t agree that we have slow starts all the time – we just got behind.
“I do agree, on Saturday we didn’t start well enough. We had to get more physical. We talked about that – the players felt the same. So we’re definitely going to give everything to start better tomorrow.
“We are excited to go again tomorrow, have the opportunity straight away. We want to play top countries because they will challenge us – being challenged shows areas we need to improve on.”
The last time the two sides met was in the 2023 World Cup semi-final where England ended their home hopes in Sydney with a 3-1 result to go through to the final.
Ella Toone was one of the goalscorers on that day and she believes Australia will be out for revenge on Tuesday.
She said: “For Australia, we broke a lot of their hearts out there at the World Cup so, for them, it’ll feel like a revenge game.
“We’re England, we want to win every game. These games are friendlies – but there are no friendlies in football.
“It’s difficult when you lose a game but there’s a game right round the corner to put things right and we’re going to go out there, put on a big performance and hopefully go out there and get the win.”
