Graz's Roland Kollman and Rapid Vienna's Andreas Ivanschitz have both scored three goals apiece in the opening six games of the Austrian Bundesliga season.

Kollman has particularly caught the eye and put himself in contention for Goal of the Season with his 25-yard strike against Casino SW Bregenz that flew into the top corner of the net after a superb piece of control wide on the right.

Ivanschitz's goals meanwhile have highlighted his poacher's instincts and the pair are likely to provide an interesting test for the England defence in Vienna.

Those efforts have helped propel Graz and Rapid clear at the top of the table and they are likely to be battling it out closely for the major honour as the campaign progresses.

The two established sides also provide the bulk of the Austrian squad, with the likes of Martin Amerhauser, Anton Ehmann and Martin Hiden also set to feature strongly.

Austria will go into the opening World Cup qualifier on the back of a 3-1 defeat to Germany as their local neighbours marked Jurgen Klinsmann's first game in charge with a win thanks to Kevin Kuranyi's hat-trick.

Head coach Hans Krankl has admitted that the defensive lapses during that game must be tightened up against England, who he rates as better than the Germans at present.

But he did take positives from the overall display and said: "We didn't play badly, but made scoring much too easy for Germany."

Krankl's side are currently ranked 47th in the FIFA rankings, but they had claimed creditable draws against Russia and Slovakia and beat Luxembourg comfortably before losing to Germany.

However, they have suffered a blow with the loss of talented defender Emanuel Pogatetz with a shoulder injury. The 21-year-old Graz star played a key role in helping his side win the Austrian League and Cup Double last season, but will definitely miss the World Cup showdown.