Eniola Aluko hopes the advice of Daniel Sturridge will help her edge England one step closer to qualifying for the Women’s World Cup against Ukraine tonight.
Aluko has scored seven goals in as many starts, helping England top Group Six with a 100 per cent record.
The 27-year-old striker, who plays for Chelsea’s ladies team, is dreaming of playing for the national side at the World Cup in Canada next year and has been inspired by Sturridge this season.
Sturridge is finally making an impact in the men’s game. He has scored 24 goals for Liverpool this term after struggling at Manchester City and Chelsea.
Aluko said: “I was listening to Daniel the other day and he was asked what he did to improve his goal-scoring record. He said you should never, ever stop improving.
“I took a lot from what he said. I think it’s really important to put the hours in in training so when it comes to a game you’re confident. That’s what I’ve done and it’s paying off.”
England have yet to concede in qualifying and have scored 29 goals with nine coming as they thrashed Montenegro last month.
Ahead of tonight’s match at Shrewsbury, manager Mark Sampson said: “We want to produce a better performance then we did against Montenegro.”
BBC 2, 7.30pm
