Let's drink to victory!

The influx of foreign players and coaches has helped to educate our players, basically because their cultures are different. British players have seen world stars come to our shores and prepare in a way that was far more professional than most of our predecessors and quickly realised the benefits of it.

As I have progressed through my career I have felt physically the benefit of keeping my drinking to a minimum, and witnessed the negative effect that heavy drinking has had on other players' careers.

I'm certain that most players now are taking a responsible attitude towards this subject and it can only stand the national team in good stead if we continue to do so.

I commented before the game with Albania that I expected a tense night and I expect tomorrow afternoon to be very similar.

But the psychology of being at the top of the group, requiring a win at home to go through to the finals, is very different to the challenge the team faced going to Munich. Then, we had nothing to lose. We weren't expected to win and had the safety net of the play-offs to cushion a negative result.

Now, the last thing we want is to have to go to the play-offs and we dearly want to finish the job at Old Trafford.

We are clear favourites to beat Greece but complacency will not be an issue on this occasion. The prize is too great, and the road has been to difficult, for us to take the position in which we find ourselves for granted.

Dealing with the tension will be the key tomorrow. I vividly remember four years ago and the 0-0 draw in Rome, when we qualified for France 98. The celebrations are what people remember most now but it was a tense night. Who could forget the dramatic 30 seconds at the end of the game when Ian Wright hit the post, then Italy broke away and Vieri headed narrowly over?

Two of the team that night, Sol Campbell and Dave Seaman, have been forced out through injury, which means that David Beckham will probably be the only starter from that game who will do so again at Old Trafford.

Despite this and the loss of Michael Owen through injury, we have great cover in the squad and experienced youngsters who will deal with the occasion, no problem.

Greece will be smarting from their heavy defeat in Finland and, having seen a tape of the game, I'm sure they will feel they can't play that badly again. They have a relatively new manager who will want to prove a point, as will the players, but we have to believe that we have enough to get us through to next summer's finals.