England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has indicated that he will be planning to start Wednesday’s match against Poland with four changes to the squad that faced Austria.

Chelsea’s Shaun Wright-Phillips, Spurs’ Ledley King and Manchester United’s duo of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand will all start against Poland.

England Captain David Beckham is suspended after his red-card in the match against Austria, so former Real Madrid team-mate Owen will lead the side out, having taken on the captaincy when Beckham was sent off against Austria on Saturday.

Owen said of his captaincy for the match, “I will be looking to all the other players to rally the troops, and hopefully we can get a good result out of it”…“We are desperate to put on a good show”.

It will be Owen’s 8th time to have captained the English side. England have never lost when Owen has worn the arm-band, and will be hoping to keep that record.

The team will be without the services of both Steven Gerrard and Sol Campbell who are both injured, and Gerrard’s Liverpool team-mate Peter Crouch who has been dropped.

Liverpool midfielder Gerrard is sidelined after injuring his shin against Austria on Saturday, and Arsenal defender Sol Campbell is suffering from a hamstring problem. Some people believe that Newcastle United midfielder Scott Parker is the perfect replacement for Gerrard, but he has not been included in the squad

Manager Sven Goran Eriksson said in a press conference, "Rooney is back, which is positive, so he will play up front”. As regards Rooney’s temper the Swede said “He (Rooney) is very keen to control it, he knows, and is very willing to curb it to play in the World Cup”

Speaking about the space left by the suspension of Beckham, the England Coach said simply, "Shaun (Wright-Philips) is the natural replacement for Beckham but we will do some tactical work and decide after that 100%."

England have already qualified for the 2006 World Cup but will be bidding to finish top of their group by beating leaders Poland at Old Trafford.

It is still unclear whether Wednesday’s game at Old Trafford has any bearing on the final seeding of each team for the finals draw.

FIFA are not planning to decide until just before the Group draw in Leipzig on the 9th of December whether qualification results will be used to determine the final seedings.

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