‘Positive’ - Nigel Pearson hails Bristol City as England and Man City come to Ashton Gate

England Women play tonight, and Hull City come on Saturday, before Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City visit Ashton Gate
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Nigel Pearson says that tonight’s England Women’s match at Ashton Gate ‘is good’ for Bristol City and a positive, as the Three Lionesses hosts Belgium in the Arnold Clark.

Sarina Wiegman’s side have played at MK Dons and Coventry City, and now in the final round of fixtures in the Arnold Clark, visit Bristol for the first time since November 2015. More than 20,000 tickets have been sold for tonight’s clash, with the West Country now getting a chance to watch the EURO 2021 winners.

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England are preparing for the 2023 World Cup which will be held in Australia and New Zealand, and this is the last but one opportunity for fans to see them play. A friendly with hosts Australia has been arranged for April at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium.

“We’ve obviously got internationals today, a double-header which is a real positive thing for us," said the 59-year-old. Hopefully, there will be a good attendance for both games, but I am sure it will be a big turnout for the England-Belgium game. I think it is good for the City.”

It’s set to be a busy seven days in store for the city of Bristol, who welcome the England women’s national team on Wednesday night, before facing Hull City on Tuesday and then Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Fortunately, the Bears are away this coming Friday in the English Premiership, which will give ground staff the appropriate time to work on the pitch and ensure it is ready for both the Tigers and the Citizens.

“I hope the pitch is alright but it will be,” said Pearson whose team will hope that the pitch can remain in a good condition before their Championship clash at the weekend.

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“The club and Ashton Gate deal pretty well with the volume of events on there and what we always try and do is make sure the pitch is as good as it can be.

“Certainly over the last few weeks, we’ve played on some pitches that haven’t been as good as you get used to these days. Ours is still in a positive and very good condition, to say how much traffic it gets."

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