England manager Roy Hodgson has admitted that he will experiment with his starting line-up when his side meets Denmark on Wednesday.
The game at Wembley will be the last time the boss sees his squad before they start their preparations for the World Cup and he has included a number of fringe players for the clash, most notably uncapped Southampton defender Luke Shaw.
With Ashley Cole no longer first choice at Chelsea, it appears as if there could be a seat on the plane to Brazil for someone like Shaw, as Hodgson goes searching for the perfect blend ahead of the start of the tournament which his side is priced at 30.00 to win.
The Three Lions face Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in a tricky looking group and it is still unclear who will start the competition, with the 66-year-old already admitting that he is likely to upset a number of the more established players in his squad when he names his final 23.
England go into Wednesday’s clash as the 1.67 favourites, with the draw at 3.54 and the Danes on offer at 5.03 but it appears as if the coach isn’t too worried about the result and is instead looking to see if some of his less experienced players can cut it at the highest level.
“The Denmark game is very much a game where I’ve got to think about what experimentations I need,” Hodgson said. “If we take Steven Gerrard, does he need to play against Denmark to prove to me that he needs to play against Italy (in the first match of the World Cup)?
“Would I be better off playing somebody else because I know what Steven Gerrard can do? He’s got 103 caps. Could (Wayne) Rooney be in the same category as Gerrard? And Joe Hart too?”
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