England midfielder says the Three Lions are ready for the qualifier in Ukraine
England midfielder says the Three Lions are ready for the qualifier in Ukraine
Ukraine v England
FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifier
7.45pm, Tuesday 10 September 2013
Olympic Stadium, Kyiv
Live on ITV
Jack Wilshere says England will be ready for a hostile atmosphere in Kyiv on Tuesday night as the Three Lions look to maintain their place at the top of Group H.
Victory over Moldova on Friday night saw Roy Hodgson’s men leap-frog leaders Montenegro – albeit on goal difference – and another win against Ukraine would keep their World Cup qualifying hopes in their own hands.
However, the Arsenal midfielder is expecting a difficult encounter against a Ukrainian side who earned a 1-1 draw at Wembley last year.
“It’s going to be a hard game, we know that,” said Wilshere. “They have some dangerous players as we saw when they came to Wembley.
“We must be ready, defend well and go on the attack as well, so it’s going to be a tough one.”
He continued: “Hopefully we can still be top of the group after this one so we can go into the last two games with everything in our hands.
“I’m not sure it will win us the group as we’ll still have two games left, but it’ll be nice to get a win in our final away game and we’ll be in a very strong position.”
Wilshere played for an hour in England’s 4-0 win against Moldova last week. It was his first World Cup Qualifier for his country and his first competitive international for over two years.
He says Tuesday’s meeting at the Olympic Stadium will be his biggest game wearing the Three Lions, but believes his team have the expeience to come through it with flying colours.
“Moldova was my first World Cup Qualifier, so to play away in Ukraine will be a big game, definitely the biggest one I’ve played in for England.
He added: “We have players who play in the Champions League and have a lot of experience who go away to tough places and play in that type of atmosphere, so we’ll be aware of that and be ready.”