Toni Duggan believes England will have to be on their mettle if they are to see off Norway in the quarter finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Phil Neville’s side will meet the Scandinavian giants in Le Havre on Thursday night.
The Lionesses won all three of their group matches and eased past Cameroon in the round of 16, a game in which Duggan contributed two assists.
Norway were beaten by host nation France in the group stage and only squeezed past Australia on penalties, but Duggan knows her team-mates will have to be at their best to get past the 1995 world champions.
“I’ve watched them in this tournament and they’ve been brilliant,” said Duggan on the Lionesses Daily show.
“I said in an interview the other day that they’re one of my teams to watch. But hopefully they’re not here too much longer!
“It’s going to be a great game, it really is. A lot of the [Norway] girls play in the WSL and they’ve got some top players, but we can’t write ourselves off because we’ve been producing.
JOIN THE LIONESSES SUPPORTERS CLUB
“We watched their game against Australia and it was a great battle; either team could have won, and I think our game is going to be pretty much the same.
“It’s going to be a cracker.”
Duggan was in the starting 11 when England beat Norway in the last 16 of the 2015 World Cup in Canada.
The two sides have faced each other 18 times with the Norwegians winning 14, including the last meeting, a 1-0 reverse in La Manga in January 2017.
The winners of Thursday’s quarter final will take on either France or holders USA in the last four.
