Five-star England thrash Belgium to top Nations League group

England cruised to a dominant 5-0 win over Belgium in a Chelsea-centric display, with four of the five goals coming from players from the Women's Super League (WSL) leaders.

The Blues quartet of Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright, Aggie Beever-Jones and Keira Walsh all netted, with City's Jess Park also getting on the scoresheet to complete the drubbing and move to the top of their Nations League group.

"I think the second half we dropped a little bit in tempo and then the subs came in and they brought the energy again, but also quality and what I really liked too, that we kept it simple, England manager Sarin Wiegman told ITV.

"We kept playing our game, our England game and keep it simple. That looks easy, but it's pretty hard and I really enjoyed that."

Six of Sarina Wiegman's starting XI play for the reigning WSL champions, currently six points clear at the top of the table, and combined several times to keep the Red Flames under pressure and secure the win.

Lauren James' pinpoint cross found club teammate Bronze who headed home to break the deadlock, despite the goal taking a slight deflection of a Belgian defender.

Another domestic duo, Arsenal's Beth Mead and Alessia Russo, were setting each other up in tandem but were struggling to finish their chances. The latter rattled the post twice, and Mead, who missed the last camp due to injury, was foiled by a clever save from Nicky Evrard.

In a similar groove to the opening goal, Bright was there to head home from close range after Bronze's header fell just in front of her defensive partner on the stroke of half-time.

Previously, England have struggled to hold on to their leads, allowing Portugal back into the first game of their Nations League campaign to end 1-1 but were able to maintain their composure and thwart Belgium's attempts at softening the blow.

Despite having little to do, goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, who has claimed Chelsea's No.1 spot, was alert to keep another clean sheet, further adding to her cause to be England's starting keeper in place of Mary Earps going into their defence of the Euros in July.

It was then over to the next generation of talent to secure the win. Marking her first England goal, Beever-Jones got ahead of the defenders to tap home from Mead's cross, after she came off the bench at half-time in place of James, who felt something in her thigh.

Then, out of nowhere, Park barrelled down on goal after taking advantage of some sloppy defending from Belgium. She was determined to add to her tally after scoring the winning goal against Spain last month and sent a sensational strike flying past Evrard.

Walsh had never scored for England before despite winning 83 caps. She has a glancing chance of scoring her first earlier in the evening, rattling the post, but on the cusp of stoppage time, she took advantage of the rebound from a set piece and struck into the bottom corner. While it took a deflection, the goal stood as the midfielder's.

Despite the dominant performance, the Lionesses are facing a plethora of injuries with veterans Alex Greenwood, Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp all ruled out for extended periods with knee injuries. Fran Kirby and Chloe Kelly were both called up for this squad but pulled out injured ahead of the games, with the latter withdrawing from the squad just an hour before kick-off to return to Arsenal to rehab a foot injury. Wiegman is hopeful that Kirby will be available for the second game on Tuesday.

Wiegman's side will face the Red Flames in Leuven next week. Last year, in the inaugural Nations League, England were beaten 3-2 in the same city.

"Tuesday's going to be a different game, so now we win 5-0," Wiegman added. "We don't all of a sudden think that we are in the best possible place. We know we have to improve things. Belgium is a totally different opponent than Spain was and then Portugal is.

"I would never be complacent. We'll bring the team on the pitch [on Tuesday] that we think at that moment is the best team to play against Belgium.

"Put it into the bigger context. We're not going to get complacent. This is a good performance, but we're not all the way here. We keep neutral and try to perform again and again."