Joe Hart, James Milner and Joleon Lescott will all hope to feature in the away games against San Marino and Montenegro as Roy Hodgson’s side attempt to cement their place at the top of Group H – the results of which will surely shape who qualifies with England needing at least a point in the latter fixture played in Podgorica.
In the Balkans, Aleks Kolarov and Matija Nastasic are likely to represent Serbia against Croatia and Scotland while Edin Dzeko will surely spearhead Bosnia’s attack in their top-of-the-table Group G clash with Greece later this week.
Javi Garcia will hope to win his second and possibly third caps after being recalled into the Spain squad for the matches against Finland and the mouth-watering summit tussle with France.
Garcia won his only international cap to date in May 2012 against Serbia and it will represent major progress if he sees any game time for La Roja, especially as team-mate David Silva is likely to feature in both games.
Samir Nasri wasn’t included in France’s squad to face Georgia and Spain but Gael Clichy will hope to add to the 16 caps won so far for Les Blues. Vincent Kompany’s calf injury keeps him out of Belgium’s squad, too
...International Blues...
Sergio Aguero was included in Argentina’s squad to face Venezuela and Bolivia but is unlikely to feature as he recovers from a knee injury. Carlos Tevez’s international exile continues but City vice-captain Pablo Zabaleta has become something of a fixture in the national team and should play in both games.
Costel Pantilimon is the Romania squad for the games against Hungary and Holland.
On loan Ryan McGivern should add another two caps to his current total of 19 as Northern Ireland take on Russia and Israel in Belfast while Roque Santa Cruz has been surprisingly omitted from Paraguay’s squad for their upcoming qualifiers.
Finally, Kolo and Yaya Toure are back in Africa with the Ivory Coast along with Abdul Razak as The Elephants take on Gambia in their World Cup qualifying group this Saturday.
