England v France
Under-21 International Match
The City Ground, Nottingham Forest FC
8pm, Tuesday 31 March 2009
Tickets £10 adults and £5 children and concessions
Ticket hotline: 0871 226 1980
Click here to buy the programme
Live on Setanta

Mark Noble returned to the Under-21s fold this week and declared his intentions ahead of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Sweden this summer.

Noble, whose last match for Stuart Pearce’s side was in the Euro 2009 play-off decider against Wales, is back in the squad for their match at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night and is determined to get a confidence boosting win.

The 21-year-old was part of the England team who were knocked out in the Semi-Final of the European Championship two years ago, but now believes his team are ready to go further this time around.

"We’ve got a major tournament coming up in the summer, so you can say they’re friendlies, but they’re not.

"We’ve got to put in the performances and keep the momentum going of winning games. That’s what’s important and that’s what we’ll try and do leading up to the Championship."

Noble missed out on Friday’s 5-0 win in Norway following their recent birth of his daughter. The new father was impressed by the way his team mates controlled a game in difficult conditions.

He also said that, even with a few key players pulling out through injury, there are always players available for the Under-21s who can do a good job.

"Speaking to the boys and watching the videos, the conditions looked horrendous (in Norway). But it’s a credit to them how they went out there, scored five goals and dominated the game.

"We’ve got the likes of Derbs [Matt Derbyshire] and Fraizer [Campbell] coming in and we all know they can score goals and finish and that’s what they did.

"You see the snow and the orange ball and expect the Norwegians to deal with it better than us, so to come away with a 5-0 victory was a credit to them."

He added: "Not being involved in a 5-0 win is not nice, but the boys went out there and put a show on. Hopefully I’m involved on Tuesday and get another win for the team."

But the West Ham United midfielder is expecting a tough contest at the City Ground, despite the French not having qualified for Euro 2009.

"France are one of the top nations in the world. It’s going to be a tough game, we know that," said Noble.

"Since the penalty shoot-out in Holland I haven’t lost a game for the Under-21s and I want to keep that record up until the Championship and win the Final.

"That’s our aim and it would be silly not to aim for that with the players and squad we’ve go.

"Tuesday will be important, we’ve got to put a perforamce in, the boss has got to see his players and what they can do and we’re concentrating on the Championship.

"The teams we’ve got in our group; Germany, Finland and Spain, it’s going to be a similar test as they are all great footballing sides.

"We’ve got to beat them and if we put in a performance against France and beat one of the top sides in the world, we’ll go into the Finals with confidence and hopefully win the tournament."