Owen: Lay off Heskey

Michael has appealed for fans and critics to lay off Emile Heskey.

The Liverpool striker has yet to truly establish his England credentials, unlike his team-mate Owen, and many of his performances have come in for criticism.

Although Wayne Rooney looks set to start tomorrow's crucial Euro 2004 qualifier against Macedonia in Skopje, Heskey is certain to feature at some stage with Sven-Goran Eriksson fielding a makeshift midfield due to injuries and doubts over the Everton teenager's fitness.

Owen Hargreaves is the favourite to fill the troublesome left side position of the midfield diamond, a role that Heskey has occupied before to limited effect.

But Owen, who appealed yesterday for patience over Rooney, defended his Liverpool partner ahead of the match.

"You haven't seen Wayne's true colours yet, but no matter what people think, when Emile is on top of his game there are not many better players in the world.

"I saw him two years ago when he had a patch of 10 to 15 games for Liverpool where he was unbelievable. No-one could stop him. We have to get Emile back to that level but he needs encouragement, not people having a got at him."

The spotlight will also fall on Heskey and England's other black players Ashley Cole and Kieron Dyer after they were subjected to racial abuse by home fans the last time England played in eastern Europe against Slovakia. Meanwhile, David Beckham faces a fitness test to see if he will play. Eriksson has already lost Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand from his first choice team.