Simon Davies would love to have been part of Wales’ first two World Cup qualifiers but unfortunately fate denied him the chance to face Azerbaijan and Poland.

"I was injured and ended up flicking back and forth on television between Poland against England and the Wales match with Northern Ireland," reveals the 24-year-old Spurs midfielder.

"I could see my team-mates Ledley King, Paul Robinson and Jermain Defoe in the England side and all of them did really well.

"I get on with all of them particularly Ledley because we have been together for the past four or five years. But when the England-Wales game comes around I will be trying everything I know against them. It will be the other way around I’m sure."

Wales need Davies on the right-hand side of midfield following two World Cup draws. And the bad news for Sven-Goran Eriksson is that he believes he is ready to peak at Old Trafford on 09 October.

"I’ve now had three games back I came on as sub against Norwich, played 65 minutes at Chelsea and felt my sharpest so far at Oldham on Wednesday night," he warns.

"It is all about getting your match fitness and a couple more games now and I will be fully match fit.

"I hope that is bad news for England, obviously that is in the back of my mind - it is going to be a great game so it will be nice to be 100 per cent for that one.

"I need games which is why I was so pleased the manager played me in the Carling Cup. I have missed a lot of football and I’m desperate to play in every game.

"It was a good one to get under our belt, once we went a goal up we could all go and express ourselves."

Tottenham’s 6-0 victory probably raised a few eyebrows, not least with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho who suggested Spurs had been too defensive in Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Not that Davies particularly cares after a good unbeaten start to the season under new boss Jacques Santini.

"We can’t win, can we," he says. "Last season we were criticised for not defending well. So we go to Chelsea who are one of the favourites for the championship, we set our stall out and defend really well and their manager criticises us.

"We are proud of the way we defended, it was just a shame we couldn’t get forward. We tried to but Chelsea are a quality team.

"To score six goals after that is very nice but it’s not such a surprise. Jermaine Defoe, Robbie Keane and Freddie Kanoute are on fire at the moment so we will get goals.

"The manager has come in with new ideas in training and it has given the place a freshness. There are three competitions where we can reach Europe and we will be trying our hardest in all of them."

It’s another big test on Saturday - Manchester United at White Hart Lane.

It brings Davies face-to-face with one of his boyhood heroes, Ryan Giggs.

When Davies was a schoolboy in west Wales, he would make the long trip to Peterborough every weekend to train under legendary youth coach Kit Carson. And it was someone like Giggs whom he was trying to emulate.

"I always think it’s an honour to line up against somebody of the class of Ryan Giggs," he says. "But it will be even better to line up with him, particularly against England!"

Like Davies, Giggs missed the first two Wales games, due to suspension in his case. But both men were named by Mark Hughes on Thursday for the England match.