Cameron Jerome believes his club form can help him gain a regular place in England's Under-21s.

International Under-21 Friendly
7pm, Tuesday 25 March 2008
Molineux, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
Tickets, priced £10 adults and £5 concessions, will be available from the Wolves Ticket Office on 0871 880 8433 or via www.wolves.co.uk   

Cameron Jerome believes his club form with Birmingham City this season can help him gain a regular place in England's Under-21s squad as The Three Lions look to secure a spot at next summer's European Championship.

The 21-year-old has scored five times for the Blues this campaign - his first in the Premiership - as his side fights to stay afloat in the top flight. Jerome is confident he will do enough to keep in Stuart Pearce's thoughts, with their last qualifier coming up in September, followed a month later by the two-legged play-offs.

On Tuesday night in Wolverhampton, former Cardiff City striker Jerome may get the chance for his first start for the Under-21s and impress Pearce at close hand, while perhaps adding to the nine caps from the bench he has already.

And having seen the likes of David Bentley, Theo Walcott, David Wheater and Gabriel Agbonlahor get the attentions of Fabio Capello, he also hopes that one day a chance with the senior team could follow.

"I'm here on merit and with the best youngsters in the country," said Jerome as he prepared for the friendly match against Poland, "so it's about getting away from the pressures of club football and coming here to enjoy an international.

"I'm confident of my ability and it's down to your club form and how you do when you come here and train, your attitude and the way you go about things when you take to the field."

He continued: "Gabby's done well since he's been in the Under-21s and he's done well at Aston Villa so it's all credit to him. If you're doing the business with your club and at Under-21s it's good to see players progressing through the ranks.

"It's happened to one or two, David Bentley made the step last season and he's beginning to nail down a place in the starting eleven, so that's what most of the boys in this squad are hoping to do too."

Jerome added: "Watching the Premiership week in, week out you know how good it is and you know how good the players are you are playing against. One thing that did surprise me is the difference between the Premiership and the Championship since getting promoted last year, the pace of the game is different and if you make mistakes you are punished for them.

"It's always hard for a team who gets promoted and you're going to be favourites for relegation, but we've got a good squad at Birmingham and we've done well against some of the top teams and given them good games.

"We can sometimes let ourselves down against the teams artound us and that's where the bread and butter is and where you've got to win your points."

To watch the video from Cameron's press conference, click the link above.