Carroll call! £35m Liverpool striker to partner Welbeck but The Ox gets the chop
By Matt Lawton and Matt Barlow
PUBLISHED: 21:45 GMT, 14 June 2012 | UPDATED: 21:45 GMT, 14 June 2012
Roy Hodgson is poised to play Andy Carroll in tandem with Danny Welbeck against Sweden, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain set to make way for England's most expensive footballer.
After drawing the first Group D game against France, Hodgson is planning a more aggressive approach for Friday night's Euro 2012 clash in Kiev.
All smiles: Hodgson will partner Andy Carroll with Danny Welbeck for Friday night's clash with Sweden
He is expected to bring in Carroll to join Welbeck up front in a 4-4-2 formation, having paired them in training at Kiev's Olympic Stadium. Ashley Young is likely to start wide on the left.
Hodgson also considered using the pace of Theo Walcott and is thought to have assured the Arsenal winger he will play a key role in the tournament.
On the bench: Oxlade-Chamberlain will be relegated to the substitutes' bench for the showdown with Sweden
Six of the last seven goals conceded by Sweden have been headers and England won 1-0 in a friendly at Wembley in November with a header by Gareth Barry.
Hodgson suspects Sweden manager Erik Hamren will be terrified of Carroll, who ended the season in top form.
Centre of attention: Hodgson puts England through their paces ahead of Friday's crunch clash
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Group D is wide open, although England will be in trouble if they lose. Neither Hodgson nor his captain Steven Gerrard put the Swedes - or Tuesday's opponents Ukraine - in the same class as the French.
The manager said: 'To be brutally honest, France are one of the favourites to win the competition and Sweden and Ukraine are not.'
'When we win the ball back and break out, we've got to make certain the last pass, cross or actual finish is very clinical.
Danny boy: Welbeck is set to keep his place in Hodgson's line-up for the game against Sweden
'It is hard to get good goal chances at this level of football. You are not going to get many during the course of a game and you have to be very effective when the chances come your way'
Gerrard added: 'With respect to Sweden, who are a good, strong team, they are not France. We can be a bit more bold and ambitious and get at the Swedes more. We're confident if we reach the same level of performance we'll get a victory.'
Leading by example: Hodgson and Gerrard speak to the assembled media on Thursday
However, Gerrard warned: 'Although we are confident, that's not to say we won't be trying to learn from the mistakes we made in the first game.
'We've analysed what we did right and wrong against France and we will be trying to improve on our performance as well.
Crunch clash: England are favourites to beat Sweden after holding France to a draw
'I'm really happy with the start we've made to the tournament. It was really solid and we've left ourselves a good platform to build on.
'The boys are confident we will be on four points after this next game and that will be a good start to this group.'
Pace-setters: England know a win against Sweden will leave them in a good position ahead of their final group game
France manager Laurent Blanc would seem to disagree. 'We can't repeat the first 30 minutes against England,' he said. 'If we had played against a really good side it would have been over.'
England will be wary of Sweden captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic despite his record of scoring in only three of 19 games against English teams for club and country.
Former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson said: 'He is a player English journalists like to criticise but I wouldn't be surprised if he scores the goal that wins the game.'
All eyes on you: Gerrard is confident England will beat Sweden
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