Wright-Phillips in England frame

Shaun Wright-Phillips' England dream is alive after he overcame injury and trained with his new international team-mates this morning ahead of tomorrow's friendly in Sweden.

The Manchester City front man, battling calf and ankle niggles sustained in Saturday's goalless draw with Fulham, revealed last night he would be "gutted" if injury forced him to miss out on his senior national team debut in Gothenburg.

But the signs looked good today as he took part in a full work-out with the other 24 players in Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad at Arsenal's London Colney training headquarters near St Albans.

Fellow England new boy Jermain Defoe even tested Wright-Phillips' fitness by clattering into him during an enthusiastic game of keep-ball.

Eriksson was just yards away and looked glad to see Wright-Phillips leap straight back to his feet.

The 22-year-old, son of Arsenal legend Ian Wright, now hopes to stake his claim for a place at Euro 2004 when Eriksson's men take on his home nation tomorrow night.

Eriksson finally committed his long-term future to the Football Association on Sunday, signing a new contract stretching until 2008 just three days after holding talks with Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon.

The first poser of the Swedish coach's new era at the helm is who to appoint captain in the absence of David Beckham and Michael Owen.

The Real Madrid midfielder and the Liverpool striker are the only players to ever start a game as captain under Eriksson.

Eriksson is understood to have decided which man he favours from his three-man shortlist of Owen's club colleague Steven Gerrard, Middlesbrough's Gareth Southgate and Chelsea's John Terry.

And Gerrard is favourite to take the captain's armband, with an announcement expected later today.

The trio all took part in this morning's work-out, which began with an Eriksson team-talk to his entire 25-man squad and continued with the keep-ball session in which Defoe dumped Wright-Phillips on his behind.

Backroom coach Sammy Lee then led an extensive exercise routine for the outfield players while goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence put surprise call-up Robert Green, of First Division Norwich, through his paces along with David James, Paul Robinson and Ian Walker.

The squad were due to fly out to Sweden from Luton Airport at 2.30pm.