The Liverpool striker has been suffering from an injury that kept him out action for the whole of December and the early part of 2004, but with two tidy finishes in his last two outings for the Reds, Owen is coming on strong at the right time for Liverpool and England.

"I'm not that worried about Michael Owen," said Sven

"All strikers, now and then, don't score for a couple of games. But he's coming back from injury so if he's fit, he will always be a danger for opponents."

He added: "It might help him to have had a break. For the World Cup, we had some players not playing - Gary Neville, Steven Gerrard - and some others - Michael Owen, David Beckham - who were not 100 per cent fit.

Michael Owen"You can always discuss whether it was right for me to pick them and play them. But when you talk about David Beckham and Michael Owen, I think that I should do it again.

"They are two important players for the national team. I just hope that we don't have any injuries or half-injuries before the Euro 2004 finals. I think they did okay at the World Cup anyhow."

Sven also backed another of his goal-threats who has not found the net at international level for over two years. Paul Scholes scored his 13th, and last, goal in his 35th appearance, but has failed to add to that in his last 24 caps.

However, Eriksson feels that the Manchester United midfielder has much more to offer the team besides goals and has also been boosted by the form of players like Frank Lampard.

"Paul Scholes could never be a worry. It's a big worry if he's not on the pitch as he's a real football player. He makes all the team play.

"Lampard is doing extremely well and has played more or less all the games. That's fantastic. He's scoring goals and doing better and better."

Added Sven: "If we talk about midfielders, I'm very confident we will have eight very good ones in Portugal. I'm not worried at all."