England may be one of the heavy favourites to win Euro 2017, but skipper Steph Houghton is adamant form goes out of the window when they meet bitter rivals and tournament minnows Scotland in their opening game tonight.

The Lionesses finished third at the World Cup two years ago and are expected to go close to becoming the first England senior side to win a major trophy since 1966 in the Netherlands.

But if that dream is to become reality then they need to hit the ground running, and they should do just that against a Scotland side preparing for their first ever match in an international competition.

The Scots certainly possess enough talent to hurt England, with Manchester City forward Jane Ross and Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert particularly dangerous.

But England will have to get used to the pressure that comes with expectation in the next few weeks, and Durham-born Houghton fired out an early warning shot to their rivals – insisting they are better than ever and are ready to show it.

“There will be no friends on the football pitch,” she said ahead of the match in Utrecht.

“It is a massive game, it is probably the biggest fixture I watched when I was younger. There is a real rivalry there and ultimately we just need to go out and play our best if we want to win.

“I think for me and Mark the belief is that over the two years the girls have massively improved in all areas – not just finding ways to win football matches, but also in our fitness and our mentality and we have won some big matches along the way.

“We won in America 1-0 [in March], and that performance might not have been nice on the eye but for us we did our job, and we stifled them and got the important bit at the right time.

“Nineteen out of the 23 with us today have experienced the World Cup and got a bronze medal around their neck so hopefully we can lean on their experience in the big games, and it does not get any bigger than against Scotland.”

England have been preparing for this tournament since May, and head coach Sampson insists they are the fittest team around.

And he expects that claim to be fully tested at the Stadion Galgenwaard, against a physical Scotland side.

“I have never been in a game of football that is not a battle and it will be the same today, and we know that,” he said.

“It is two international teams coming up against each other, both trying to win but we are focussed on being the best we can be and we know Scotland – we know their strengths and they have some outstanding players and some individual talent.

“But they also have some areas we can hurt them and we have focussed on those in the last couple of days. We just need to get our work rate right and execute our plans as best we can.

“If we do that, we get three points on the board but we will have to put in a good performance to do that.”

SSE is an official partner of the England’s Women’s team and is proud to be the energy behind women's football, supporting the game from grassroots through to international level. Follow us at @YourSSE