England will again be without Ashley Cole when they bid to qualify for the World Cup by beating Poland at Wembley on Tuesday night.
The Chelsea star was forced to miss Friday night’s 4-1 win over Montenegro with a rib injury and he has again failed to recover in time for the clash against the Poles.
Leighton Baines will again deputise at left-back and the Everton defender says the whole squad is focused on the job in hand – qualifying for Brazil.
“The manager feels that we can both do the job,” he said. “That’s all that matters really, that the job gets done.
“Qualifying for a World Cup is as big a carrot as you could probably dangle in front of any player.
“World Cups don’t come around too often in a player’s career. Everyone is hungry for that opportunity to get there and we are one game away from there.
“We know what job needs to be done and hopefully we will do it.”
Roy Hodgson will be forced to make another change to his back four as Tottenham defender Kyle Walker is out suspended so Manchester United team-mates Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are battling for his place.
Poland have nothing to play for but Hodgson says they will still be up for the games, especially considering they will be backed by 18,000 Polish fans at Wembley Stadium.
“We must make sure we complete it against Poland and I am sure we will,” he said.
“Even though they are out of the running and have nothing to play for, I can’t imagine they will take their foot off the pedal.”
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