MY MATE DEFOE WILL PUG GAP LEFT BY OWEN

THE first thing I have to say is that it feels great to pull my England shirt on once again. I may only be playing 45 minutes against the Danes tonight but that's a huge boost for me after the knee injury which kept me out for the tail end of last season and threatened to ground me for the first couple of Tottenham games.

It's also a big game for my Spurs team-mate Jermain Defoe, who should start up front tonight.

There's been a lot of talk about him and his style of play in the build-up to tonight's match.

But I've seen enough of him at Tottenham to know what a great player he is. He has a proven record and will always score goals.

His style of play resembles that of Michael Owen, who is of course suspended for the Wales qualifier, and I believe Jermain is set to come in for the game in Cardiff.

As for me, I know that this is a big, big year for me at both levels.

People are predicting we can go really well at Tottenham and, with the kind of signings we are making, you can see why. From what I read, there may even be at least one more as well.

It's nice that everything has turned out so positively as it's been frustrating time for me over the last few months, but I'm well over the worst of it now.

At one stage, it looked likely I

would miss this match and the first couple of weeks of the Premiership season, but everything has gone well recently and I finished ahead of schedule.

I did have 45 minutes of action for Spurs in a preseason friendly against Porto and afterwards there was a little bit of swelling on the knee.

The plan was that I would play in a reserve team match the following Monday but I pulled out of that, tailed off the training for a couple of days and then began to build it up again.

Everything went well after that and I was able to play in the first match of the Premiership season at Portsmouth.

I suffered no reaction to that except for a little fluid around the knee which is normal.

The medical experts felt that, at this stage, it probably wasn't a good idea to play two full games in five days so I'm just going to play the first 45 minutes tonight.

The bad news is that the pitch in the Parken Stadium is far from perfect. FC Copenhagen play there and they are well into their season.

It's bare in places and uneven all over including the goalmouths.

We've played on a lot worse, though, and I suppose we're spoilt in England.

Every pitch is like a bowling green this time of year and, generally speaking, we must have some of the best playing surfaces in world football.

Tonight might be a friendly, and I'm sure there will be other changes to the team apart from me, but it's important with the two World Cup qualifiers coming up.

At international level, many of the pundits are predicting big things from us in the World Cup.

We have to do the job and qualify first but I do believe that, although the Finals are a long way off yet, there is a massive sense of anticipation amongst this squad.

I know Mr Eriksson feels that way as well and he has already emphasised that we have that extra vital week's rest at the end of the season and he wants everyone fit and at the top of his game.

The spirit within this group is fantastic and that's not just propaganda.

We've been together for some time now and when you join up it's like being with another club side.

There's a long way to go yet and I'm sure there will be some surprises along the way, there always is, but I know everyone within this England squad believes we truly have a great chance come next June.

In the meantime, though, we're concentrating on the next job and that is Denmark.

The last time we played them, back in November 2003, we lost 3-2 also in a friendly and I came on for the second half.

They will not be soft touches tonight. They have plenty of pace in their side and with some of their team playing their football in England, they will know all about us.

We're raring to go, though, and, for me, it's just great to be back, even for 45 minutes!

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