With England's crucial EURO 2004 match against Turkey less than a month away now

With England's crucial EURO 2004 match against Turkey less than a month away now, there is some encouraging news regarding the fitness of Paul Scholes...

The United man missed the match against Liechtenstein with a hernia problem but the good news is that the injury now looks to be settling down.

His club boss, Sir Alex Ferguson said: "For the first time, it looks a little bit more encouraging. We have delayed surgery because we hoped it would settle down and it seems to be a little bit easier now, so we won't be doing an operation for the moment."

Everton's Wayne Rooney filled-in for Scholes in impressive fashion against Liechtenstein but Sven has gone on record to say how highly he rates Scholes as a player.

When he does play for his country again, goals will be one of the first things on the agenda for Paul. It has been a while since he's hit the back of the net for the Three Lions - something he's keen to put right as soon as possible.

"It's been a long time since I've scored for England," Paul told TheFA.com earlier this summer.

"You do think about it because in my mind I'm a goalscorer. I may not be a striker but I see myself as a goalscorer. That's what people expect of me and that's what I'm always looking to do. If I'm not scoring, I'm not happy."

We will keep you updated on this story and all the build-up to the big game in Istanbul.