Wales, who also have to face Australia at Twickenham, will draw on every available piece of backs-to-wall motivation as the odds start to stack against them.
Everyone in the England camp knows what is coming but the hosts have plenty in their favour too.
"We have to be in the right place to give the performance of our lives this weekend," backs coach Andy Farrell told reporters at England's training camp on Tuesday ahead of the Pool A clash.
"What will count is that England are playing in white and in the home dressing room and at Twickenham. We will have a lot of England fans behind us."
A toss of a coin meant England kicked off the World Cup on Friday dressed in red against Fiji, and were forced to use the visitors' changing room at the stadium they call the 'Home of Rugby'.
It had little bearing on the result, a 35-11 England win, but Stuart Lancaster's team will need to be more convincing against the Welsh.
"We know what is coming. We know the type of game that they will want to play," Farrell said.
"We don't just want to stop Wales playing. We want to impose our game on Wales from the first whistle too."
Semi-finalists at the last World Cup in New Zealand, Wales are depleted this time round, having suffered an horrific spate of injuries.
Coach Warren Gatland could only watch on as seven of his players were injured, some more seriously than others, in their Pool A win Uruguay.
Those injuries, including one to Cory Allen which put the centre out of the tournament, add to a list already featuring the missing Rhys Webb and Leigh Halfpenny.
Asked whether the state of the Welsh squad meant Gatland would create a siege mentality among his team at Twickenham, Farrell said: "I have absolutely no doubt.
"He is experienced and has been to Twickenham quite a bit. He will know how to get his boys in the right place emotionally.
"We expect them to bring their best game and we expect that of ourselves."
(Editing by: Mitch Phillips)
Share
