Steve McClaren faces a club-versus-country dilemma over Steven Gerrard after the Liverpool midfielder missed training again today because of his broken toe.
The England boss says everybody associated with the team is desperate for Gerrard to play in Saturday's vital Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel.
But that view is not shared by Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who has already gone on record stating that he does not want his club captain to play at Wembley if he risks aggravating the injury.
McClaren said: “All being well, Stevie will be available on Saturday.
“I want him to play, the team do, the fans do and so does the whole country. We need big players and Stevie is one for us.
“We're assessing it day by day.
“He's getting better and hopefully by the end of the week we'll have a better idea.”
The midfielder has played only once, in the 1-1 draw against Chelsea, since breaking a toe against Toulouse in a Champions League qualifier three weeks ago.
Gerrard and Manchester United's Owen Hargreaves, who has a tendinitis problem, trained alone in the gym this morning while John Terry (illness) and Frank Lampard missed the session.
Lampard has now been sent back to Chelsea but McClaren is still hopeful that his torn thigh muscle will heal in time for him to face Russia next Wednesday.
He said: “Frank joined us last night, we looked at the scans and have liaised with Chelsea.
“He's gone back there for rehab — the injury is not as serious as we first thought, although hopefully we'll assess him on Saturday.
“He may be 50-50 for next week — and Chelsea are giving him every chance of being available for us.”
i heard he was going to the extend of using pain killers so that Gerrard could play 