When England welcome China to a sold-out Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon, it will mark the sixth meeting between two nations who have been on different trajectories in recent years. The marketing has focused on the clash of continental champions England as the holders of the European Championship and China as the winners of the 2022 Asian Cup but there has since been a change in fortunes between the two. The widening gap was evident the last time they met, at the 2023 Women's World Cup, when England put six past the Steel Roses to progress to the last 16.