England's misfiring strikers face a nervous wait to see whether they will make the cut for Fabio Capello's final 23-man squad to face Switzerland.
The Italian named five strikers in his 30-man provisional squad and if all come through their matches unscathed one of those is sure to be dropped when the final line-up is confirmed tomorrow evening.
Wayne Rooney is the only striker who can rest easy, and to a lesser extent Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor, while the others will all be conscious that their lack of form poses a serious threat to their inclusion.
Rooney's class, and his recent performances, make him undroppable but although it would be a huge surprise were Michael Owen to be left out - that has not happened since he was first picked for an England squad back in 1998 - he will still be grateful his rivals are in as equally bad form as he is.
The Newcastle forward has scored one goal in his last 15 outings, while Peter Crouch has scored just one league goal for Liverpool all season, and Emile Heskey just once for Wigan in any competition this campaign.
Agbonlahor has not matched his pre-Christmas exploits in front of goal but nevertheless it would seem unlikely that Capello would drop him, because he has already deprived Stuart Pearce of his services for the under-21s - and it looks most likely that the axe will fall on Heskey.
Pearce himself believes Agbonlahor and his Aston Villa team-mate Ashley Young will play a part in Wednesday's friendly at Wembley.
Pearce explained: "Gabby has serious pace, he's had the best season of his career and he's getting better.
"From a team aspect his link-up play with Ashley Young has been fantastic, a feature of Aston Villa's good season and I hope he is successful with the seniors."
Another Villa player, central defender Curtis Davies, should expect to be among those cut however.
Capello named 12 defenders in his provisional squad and four or even five of those will have to make way.
Tottenham's Ledley King's fragile fitness is likely to count against him - he struggles to play more than one match a week - while West Ham's Matthew Upson, Reading's Nicky Shorey and Portsmouth's Glen Johnson are favourites to also miss out, though with Ashley Cole out of favour at Chelsea he must be slightly concerned too.
That would leave Capello needing to cull one or two midfielders from his initial 10, an altogether more difficult task if all report fit for duty.
Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole, Owen Hargreaves are definite inclusions, with Young, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Gareth Barry and David Bentley probables.
Stewart Downing probably has the most to fear, as he has not enjoyed the best of seasons so far, while Jermaine Jenas and Michael Carrick would both feel hard done by if they were to be chopped, such has been their recent form.
Capello's choice of match to watch tomorrow will not provide him with any clues as to whom should be axed - he is going to Manchester City v Arsenal and only one member of the 30 will be in action: Micah Richards, very much a definite inclusion.
The Italian's sidekick Franco Baldini will be at Tottenham v Manchester United, so the onus will be on Jenas and Carrick to put on good displays.
But as Pearce highlighted, Capello will have no problem in taking any tough decisions.
Pearce said: "He's a very driven man, very professional in his outlook."
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