Vassell Vies for England Place

The 24-year-old Villa striker, who made his full international debut in February 2002, will be looking to add to his 22 caps. Birmingham’s Emile Heskey, who has a staggering 43 caps, has been omitted along with the injured lothario Wayne Rooney, leaving England with only four strikers. Eriksson is likely to start with Alan Smith and Michael Owen against Austria on Saturday, with Vassell on the bench alongside Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe.

In truth, Vassell’s limits as an international player were starkly bared against Portugal in the quarter-final match at Euro 2004 and while his pace and habit of scoring means he is useful as a late substitute, Defoe will probably overtake him in the pecking order. Though with the Blues player absent he now has less opposition within the squad.

“The door is not closed for Emile Heskey,” Eriksson said. “But I’ve seen a lot of Alan Smith and Jermain Defoe recently and they deserve their chance this time. However, I want to make clear that Emile … is still very much a part of my thinking.” As long as these thoughts involve Heskey grazing the corner flag in the blue of Birmingham and not the white of England, then we should all be grateful.

Norwich City goalkeeper Robert Green comes in for crocked Liverpool reserve Chris Kirkland, while Joe Cole is recalled after being left out of the friendly against Iceland following impressive early season form under new Chelsea coach José Mourinho.

England play against Austria in Vienna on Saturday, before travelling to Chorzów four days later to face Poland.