image: telegraph.co.uk

England B internationals are usually pointless. I remember Matt Le Tissier scoring a hat-trick for an England B team and still being ignored by Glenn Hoddle, which in part led Chris Sutton to refuse his England B call up in 1998, as he felt B players were "on a hiding to nothing."

God bless Sven then, for making B games exciting again. Possibly trying to repay the world for ruining the concept of international friendlies, he's picked a very exciting line up for tonight's game, a line up that will give a few players some much needed international experience, help other players on the road back to full fitness and reveal once and for all whether Owen Hargreaves is as versatile as Sven keeps telling us. The line up is:

• GK: David James
• RB: Owen Hargreaves
• LB: Ashley Cole
• CB: Jamie Carragher
• CB: Sol Campbell
• RM: Aaron Lennon
• LM: Stewart Downing
• CM: Michael Carrick
• CM: Jermaine Jenas
• CF: Michael Owen
• CF: Peter Crouch

Looking forward to seeing Hargreaves at right back. I remember him playing there for ten minutes in an England shirt and he looked awful, but I'd love him to look convincing tonight especially given the lack of players in Sven's World Cup 23 who can deputise for Gary Neville. Great to see Lennon and Downing on the wings, will be nice to see an England team play with some width. Carrick should impress, hopefully enough to convince Sven that the Gerrard/Lampard midfield duo isn't stable enough. Jenas, for all the stick he gets, deserves a proper game for England after all the 82nd minute substitute appearances. Will also be interesting to see how the Peter Crouch/Michael Owen partnership performs.

If that's not exciting enough for you then remember Theo Walcott will come off the bench at some point tonight, either to play left wing or behind a striker. Not a proper international debut, but getting there. For many viewers this will be the first they see of the 17 year old, fingers crossed he does the business.