Shining example

The England squad arrived in Azerbaijan in good spirits following their 2-0 win over Wales on Saturday and this evening will face Azerbaijan for the first time in their history.

The squad have enjoyed a productive couple of days in Baku and now minds are focusing on the match at the Tofik Bakhramov stadium tonight.

"The hotel is very nice and I think we have been impressed," says Lampard.

"We haven't been in to the outside world too much yet but everyone is friendly enough and we've just been getting on with preparations."

After the convincing display at Old Trafford, England top their group and could consolidate that position with a win against the Azeris.

"We're confident from the result on Saturday and we just have to make sure we are not overconfident," Lampard added.

"We need to take into account the stadium might not be what we're used to and as professionals you need to take that on board, concentrate and show the right attitude and hopefully if we can do that we can win the game and go home with three more points."

Against the Welsh, Lampard played on the left of midfield in the absence of the injured Wayne Bridge - so could we see the Chelsea man play there again?

"That's a question for the manager - it depends on tactics and which way he wants to go. I quite enjoyed it on Saturday - it went alright.

"Everyone knows that my favourite position is more central but sometimes playing on the left can give you more space to do try a few different things.

"If you play that role you have to get wide at times to give the team some width and once I did that I just tried to be positive and rather than slow the game down, try and run with it and make something happen."

Lampard made his England debut back in October 1999 but it is only since starting against Serbia and Montenegro in June 2003 that he has been a regular in Sven-Goran Eriksson's first-choice side.

"The fact that I've started games 12 games [in a row] under Sven, scored goals and held down a regular place is all that I wanted to do," explains Lampard.

"Before that I was more of a squad member, [an] occasional player, so long may it continue."

Indeed, not only has Lampard been playing well but he has also been scoring plenty of goals - six in the last nine matches, including three at Euro 2004.

"Once I get one or two and I get confident, goals seem to come for me and sometimes they dry up. It's all about confidence," says Lampard.

England have been boosted by the return of defenders Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell as well as Manchester United's 18-year-old striker Wayne Rooney.

The result is that even with the injured Steven Gerrard, Sven's England squad looks to be in rude health.

"We all talk about it. In training we look around and see great quality and youth everywhere.

"You add Steven Gerrard and Wayne Bridge and Rio, Sol and Wayne who have come back in. It's an exciting place to be."

Though England dropped two points in the match away to Austria, Sven's side have bounced back with wins over Poland and Wales and now a further win will see England cement their place at the top of Group 6.

"We've shown good character to win two difficult games and we've got another one to win which will be difficult but if we can win that it will put us in a pretty commanding position and then we can have a little break from the qualifiers."

After his shining performance at the European Championship, just how much does playing in the World Cup mean to Lampard?

"Well it's huge and for me it's even more huge because I didn't go to the last World Cup. I was in with a possibility but didn't get it.

"I've done the Euros, which was amazing for me. It went well on the pitch and also the atmosphere of being involved was fantastic.

"The World Cup is one step more than that so for me it is a big aim to get to the World Cup with England."