Steph Houghton says England can't run away with Euro dreams

England captain Steph Houghton says the Lionesses must brush aside dreams of Euro success in Holland this summer to focus on their current form.

Mark Sampson's squad face Austria at Stadium MK on Monday in their final home match before their tournament campaign begins in July with a clash against Scotland in Utrecht.

A friendly against Switzerland in Biel awaits in June and, although Houghton admits allowing thoughts of lifting the trophy in the Netherlands to creep in, she believes the team must address more immediate problems to improve on their questionable form.

England have managed just one win from six games and were unfortunate against Italy on Friday night when they dominated proceedings, only to be held to a 1-1 draw.

The Manchester City defender, who led England to third place at the 2015 World Cup, says the thought of a Bobby Moore-moment of lifting a major trophy and rousing the country inevitably comes to mind when considering the upcoming competition.

"Of course it does," said Houghton. "You want to be winning trophies and you want to be winning medals. Every time people speak about it, it's exciting and it gives you goosebumps.

"But we know there's a lot of hard work before that moment and it's important as a squad we don't get too ahead of ourselves and I don't get too far ahead of myself.

"We've got to keep our feet on the ground and do what we do best, which is work as hard as we possibly can."

Away from international duty, 28-year-old Houghton has enjoyed teaming up with Carli Lloyd, the United States World Cup winner, during the midfielder's short stint at Manchester City Women.

Lloyd is spending three months with City, and has already helped the team through a tricky Champions League quarter-final against Danish club Fortuna Hjorring, who they saw off 2-0 on aggregate.

A two-leg semi-final tussle with mighty French side Lyon awaits City later this month, and such experience can only benefit England, whose 23-player Euro 2017 squad includes eight from the Women's Super League champions.

Houghton told Press Association Sport: "I've learnt a lot from Carli over the three, four weeks that she's been here and that's the exciting thing about it: that she's a World Cup winner, she's the (FIFA) player of the year and she's a fantastic footballer.

"To learn off the very best has been very refreshing and we want to try to learn as much from her as we can before she goes back to America."