Wiegman tasked with handling storm clouds of expectation over England

The last time England met Austria they found themselves in the eye of a storm and eight months on there is a certain sense of deja vu.

Admittedly the weather forecast for Manchester on Wednesday night promises somewhat balmier conditions than last November when Sarina Wiegman’s players seemed in danger of being blown over as Storm Arwen struck Sunderland, but they are back in the midst of a whirlwind.

If keeping their footing as Ellen White’s goal gave them a 1-0 World Cup qualifying win at the Stadium of Light proved tricky for the Lionesses, coping with the almost palpable sense of expectation in the Old Trafford air represents an entirely different challenge.

After 14 games, including 12 wins, with 84 goals scored along the way since Wiegman started work last September, the expectations surrounding this team have soared and no one is quite sure how England will react to the attendant pressure.

“It’s incredible, it’s really exciting,” the England manager said as she sat in Sir Alex Ferguson’s old seat in Old Trafford’s packed media theatre on Tuesday, surveyed the sea of faces and for possibly the first time during her tenure looked slightly nervous.

Controversial Uefa tournament regulations demand that journalists wear high‑grade medical masks in press conferences but Wiegman – who urged anyone questioning her to remove those coverings so she could properly hear them – knows there will be nothing to protect her should England somehow stumble in front of a 73,000-strong crowd at the Theatre of Dreams on Wednesday.

Indeed should her team struggle against Irene Fuhrmann’s sometimes underrated Austria in the impending Euro 2022 curtain‑raiser, the media inquest threatens to rival the sort of unsparingly forensic