12 October 2004
Sven Press conference

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Sven-Goran Eriksson is confident England can cope without captain David Beckham for the World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan.

Beckham is ruled out through suspension, but would have missed the game in Baku anyway after picking up a rib injury.

The skipper was part of a three man midfield during the 2-0 win over Wales on Saturday and Eriksson faces two key decisions as he attempts to mastermind victory in the former Soviet state.

First, the manager must choose between Shaun Wright-Phillips and Owen Hargreaves to step in for Beckham and then decide whether to revert to a more conventional 4-4-2 system.

Eriksson explained: "We don't have another David Beckham, of course, but we do have options.

"Shaun Wright-Phillips is a good option and he is very hungry to play. You can see that in his face because he is desperate to play for England.

"I don't know if he will play against Azerbaijan, but he will play sooner or later because he is a good player.

"If we do play with him I think we will go for a 4-4-2 system because he is more of a winger rather than a player who likes to come inside like David Beckham or Frank Lampard," he said.

"We also have Owen Hargreaves and I think it is more likely we can keep three strikers if he plays because he is more used to being in the middle.

"But I think three strikers can work away from home and I hope that it does on Wednesday if we decide to use that formation again."

England now top Group Six with seven points and another win against Azerbaijan will put them in pole position as the World Cup qualification goes into hibernation for the winter until the next round of fixtures next March.

"Every time you have a team that is playing well and winning you want to make as few changes as possible. We did well on Saturday and I think we deserved to win by more than two goals," Eriksson added.

"We were very professional, we passed the ball very well and we created chances, so I was very happy with the performance.

"It would be good to be top of the table after this match against Azerbaijan, but the most important thing is to be first in the group when the final game is played in October 2005."