ENGLAND received the best possible welcome home in their first game back at Wembley since being crowned back-to-back European Champions.
Georgia Stanway netted a hat-trick as the Lionesses cruised to an 8-0 thrashing of China on a chilly evening under the arch.
The first was a rifled volley into the bottom-left corner following a failed clearance from goalkeeper Hongyan Pan, who had attempted to punch clear a looped cross from Lauren Hemp out on the left.
Instead, the ball fell straight to the feet of Stanway, who did not hesitate before drilling her effort home.
Her second of the game came from the penalty spot following a lengthy VAR check for a Mengwen Li handball in the box.
The ball appeared to brush the arm of the full-back after a shot from Alessia Russo and, although contentious given it seemingly hit her chest beforehand, referee Alina Pesu deemed it enough to warrant a spot-kick after going to the monitor.
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Stanway capped off her perfect evening with a composed effort into the bottom-left from seven yards out after playing a one-two on the edge of the box with Ella Toone.
The Bayern Munich star’s trio of goals came after England had already established a three-goal lead thanks to Beth Mead and Hemp, who returned to the squad this week following an ankle injury.
Mead kicked off proceedings just 12 minutes in, bringing the ball down with a perfect first touch from Lucy Bronze’s cross before poking her shot into the bottom-left corner.
She doubled her goal tally just moments later with a first-time tap-in at the back post from a powerful Toone cross.
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Hemp then made it three with a close-range strike after Stanway put the ball on a plate with a pinpoint low cross, which put England out of sight within the opening 20 minutes.
With China already down and out in the second half, a catastrophic error from Pan following a mix-up at the back gifted the Lionesses a seventh when her attempted pass from the goalmouth fell straight to the feet of Toone, who tapped the ball into the net with her first touch.
Russo then finally got her goal to pile on the misery for the visitors even more after latching onto a pass from Toone in the box and sliding her shot into the bottom corner.
England last faced China in the 2023 World Cup group stage and went away with a huge 6-1 win Down Under.
Given the friendly status of the game this time around, not many people would have expected them to go better.
But they certainly lived up to their status of Euro Champions in front of a 74,611-strong crowd.
Goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse, making her senior debut for the Lionesses, barely had to lift a finger throughout the entire game.
The 30-year-old was limited to just a handful of touches, none of which really troubled her.
England next head to St Mary’s on Tuesday, where they will face Ghana in another friendly to cap off an unforgettable year of football.
