The Real Madrid striker admitted his surprise that the pre-match talk was all about him chasing records.

Owen goes into the game needing two goals to overhaul Gary Lineker's mark of 22 as England's highest scorer at competitive level. And the 25-year-old knows a brace would also lift him above Alan Shearer, Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney as the outright fourth greatest England scorer with 31 goals.

"I didn't think we would be talking about records this early in my career. If it's the case that two goals would give me a record, that would obviously be very nice.

"I thought if I stayed fit and in form I would score a good few goals for England. I've still only got 29. I know what's required and 49 is ultimately the target, but until I get into the 40s I can't think about it too seriously.

"Wayne Rooney creates as many chances as he scores - he's a fantastic player. If I'm ever going to get the overall record, I couldn't pick a better bunch of people to play with.''

Owen is acutely aware that fans will be expecting another avalanche of goals against Group Six minnows Azerbaijan after their 8-0 defeat in Poland and England's impressive 4-0 victory over Northern Ireland at Old Trafford.

"Poland winning 8-0 has got everyone thinking that there could be a few goals about," said Owen, "many years ago there were plenty of cricket scores, but it doesn't happen as much as it used to because football has changed.

"If there's an opportunity to score a few, we'll be pressing for them for the sake of our goal difference - we would have preferred it if Poland hadn't won 8-0.

"Everyone's expectations are going to be a little higher now after seeing them win like that.

"What we have to do is keep the same attitude we had going into the Northern Ireland game, but the win is the most important thing and a good performance would be the icing on the cake.

"It's a great confidence-booster to have scored a few goals like we did on Saturday and this looks like another game where we might score a few. You have to have a ruthless streak as a footballer.''

Owen also insists he has played enough football for Real this season to be at his sharpest.

He said: "I'm not pretending that I don't want to play more and that I'm happy sitting on the bench.

"But I've played quite a bit this season - I've played 40 games for club and country and more than half have been starts. In anyone's book, that's not too bad. By the end of the season I would hope to have played over 50 games.

"I'm very pleased with the way things have gone with Real. Everyone said I would be fourth-choice there, so it's good to have done what I've done and scored a few goals.