England and Arsenal striker Alessia Russo will be hoping to fire the Lionesses to victory over the Netherlands in Zurich [Pedro Porru/SheKicks/SPP]

IT is make or break time at EURO 2025 for England today (Wednesday) and club-mates and friends will be on opposite sides when the Lionesses face the Netherlands in Zurich – but Arsenal striker Alessia Russo says the defending champions’ focus is solely on themselves.

Arsenal keeper Daphne van Domselaar and midfielder Victoria Pelova both featured for the Dutch in their opening day victory over Wales last weekend and could well line-up against Sarina Wiegman’s side later today.

But Russo, who worked tirelessly in Saturday’s crushing 2-1 loss to France and was England’s top goalscorer in qualifying, insists she is not thinking about having to come face-to-face with Van Domselaar in a match that the Lionesses simply have to win.

“She’s a world class goalkeeper and a very talented player, but us as a team, we are very focused on us,” said 26-year-old Russo.

“We’re aware they have lots of talented players and Daph is definitely one of them, but we’ve more been looking at ourselves and how we can best prepare ourselves.”

Former Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema will also face some of her old teammates and, possibly, her partner Beth Mead at the Letzigrund this afternoon.

Miedema, who hit the 100 mark in international goals after leading the Dutch to a 3-0 win over Wales, echoed Russo’s sentiments while also joking that Arsenal winger Mead might not speak to her “for a bit” if the Netherlands do send England home early.

“It’s tough,” Miedema said. “I know I’m with Beth but l’ve also got some of my best friends in that [England] team. But that’s also part of football and something l’ve come up against in club football and national team football and it’s just part of the game.

“For England to be in this position is probably something they’ve not experienced in a while, but we are just focusing on ourselves and not so much the fact that England can go out.”

England head coach Wiegman, who led the Netherlands to the EURO 2017 title and World Cup silver two years later before repeating the feat with the Lionesses on both stages, has admitted that this second group stage match will be “intense”.

“We knew this was going to be a hard group,” she said. “What we are focused on is our game plan and executing that, sticking together, talking to each other and that’s what we want to do in the game too.”

With calls for a shake-up of the starting XI in the wake of a disjointed and lacklustre performance against France, there is every chance that 19-year-old Arsenal striker Michelle Agyemang could get more time to impress.

One of six Gunners in an England squad captained by Arsenal’s Leah Williamson, Agyemang was thrown on in the 86th minute against France.

But Kiera Walsh scored within moments of the teenager’s arrival and with her movement and aerial presence, the Londoner certainly gave the French defenders more to think about.

Regardless of whoever makes the line-up, Russo believes that having discussed the loss as a team, they are fully focused today.

“Ultimately we don’t like losing but when a result like that happens you have to reflect and come together as a team,” she said. “There’s always learnings you can take from results that don’t go your way and we have bounced back before which will give us confidence.

“We know we weren’t up to it against France, obviously they are a great team as well, but we know within our standards that we want to be better so I think that sets the bar for us in training and also [today].

“We’re our own biggest critics as players so we’re all ready to get back out there and have another game.”

England versus Netherlands kicks off at 5pm and will be shown live on BBC One, coverage starts at 4.15pm.

Catherine Etoe reporting from Zurich