Darren Bent is out as injury jinx strikes yet again

13 April 2012

Fabio Capello has been hit by a new injury crisis after Darren Bent became the latest striker to be ruled out of the World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.

The Italian confirmed Peter Crouch will start at Wembley tomorrow night with Gabriel Agbonlahor providing cover following his promotion from the Under-21 squad. Tottenham striker Bent limped out of training after just five minutes of this morning's session after picking up a tendon injury in his left knee.

The knock is unlikely to please his club boss Harry Redknapp whose relationship with Capello became strained last week over the call-up of defender Ledley King.Emile Heskey and Carlton Cole have already been ruled out but Capello is
confident Crouch, in partnership with Wayne Rooney, can fire his side to victory and maintain their lead in Group Six.

"Bent had a problem with his knee tendon," he said. "He tried to stay here after the-warm up but I decided to change players — I think we've found a virus concentrated on the strikers."

Looking ahead to his plans for tomorrow night, Capello added: "I will start with Crouch because I was happy with the movement Rooney and Steven Gerrard made during the game.

"It is very important for the style that they play well. They play well with and without the ball, with good movement.

"My first idea was one style for one particular forward, fast with movement. Now we have another style with Crouch. He has a different style — he is not Heskey, he is not Bent but Rooney will play with Crouch because I am sure he is the best forward I can put in the first eleven. I am sure tomorrow we will play a good game."

Capello delivered a further snub to Michael Owen in selecting Agbonlahor, despite the Aston Villa striker scoring just one goal in his past 17 matches and having only two international caps to his name.

But he insisted Owen still could have a future for his country, saying: "In every interview I said the door for all the England players is open. I chose Agbonlahor because he has played a lot of games.

"I respect Owen but I am focused on the game for tomorrow."

England are brimming with confidence after thumping Slovakia 4-0 on Saturday but Capello warned that Ukraine, and former Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko in particular, will pose a greater threat.

He said: "It will be a very dangerous game because Ukraine play very well on the counter attack. We must focus on this during the game.

"Shevchenko was a fantastic striker when he played for Milan. I remember he scored a lot of goals against us when I was Roma manager. He is a very good player and is always dangerous in the box."

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David Jones (Footballer)

Darren Bent is out as injury jinx strikes yet again

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