Helen Ward: 'The pressure is on England to overtake us'

Helen Ward has scored a record 42 senior international goals for Wales

Wales striker Helen Ward says the pressure is on England to overtake them in their World Cup qualification group.

Wales currently sit top of Group One by a single point with England in second with a game in hand.

The two sides meet on 6 April at St Mary's Stadium, Southampton in what will be Phil Neville's first World Cup qualification game in charge.

"They [England] are expected to beat us and we aren't expected to get anything out of the games," said 70-cap Ward.

"We are top of the pile in our group and coaches, managers and players alike say you'd rather have the points in the bag than be playing catch up.

"That's where we are at the moment so the pressure is on them to overtake us."

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England have moved up to second in the latest Fifa world rankings but Ward insists Wales are focused on themselves and not their opponents.

"We have been working on how we play and we have had good results in recent times, two good wins in November and a good draw away against Russia so we are looking up," she said.

"What we have now is an understanding of the game and more and more of our team are playing professional or semi-professional football which was never the case before so we are getting players who are fitter and stronger.

"We don't want to worry too much about them but we need to be aware of the talent that they have and the threats they can pose us."