England v Peru preview

Only two more games for Roy Hodgson to tinker with his starting XI before Brazil

Only a couple more games to go before the squad land in Brazil, does Roy experiment or does he play his best XI on Friday night? 

England face their final warm-up clash on home soil before embarking on their journey to the World Cup, with a friendly against Peru at Wembley on Friday night.

The team will then go on to continue their preparations for Brazil with a further two warm-up matches in Miami, firstly against Ecuador and then three days later against Honduras.

Roy Hodgson is looking to use the Peru clash to give his side a good workout against South American opposition as they prepare to face Uruguay in World Cup Group D. The match is a good opportunity to obtain some game time for those players who have been struggling with injuries towards the end of the domestic season, players including Phil Jagielka, Jack Wilshere and Phil Jones.

Jagielka has played in just two Premier League matches since February and has indicated that he is using the warm up matches as his serious fitness test. Wilshere and Jones are the more serious concerns, although both have joined in with recent training sessions.

Wilshere has only two substitute appearances to his name for Arsenal since breaking his left foot in England's last friendly in March against Denmark. Meanwhile, Jones has been troubled with a shoulder injury since the start of May. When Roy Hodgson named the England squad, he appeared concerned with Jones' recovery and even made John Stones of Everton his stand-by.

Hodgson's men went out to Portugal last week for some warm weather training, which also included wearing three layers of clothing during the sessions. This was to test the squad for the humid conditions in Manaus, where England will play their opening match against Italy on June 14.

Hodgson will also use the warm-up matches to look upon several different systems. When announced as England manager prior to the Euro 2012 tournament, Hodgson was unsure of the squad's capability as an attacking force, so opted to use a defensive 4-4-1-1 formation. With plenty of younger players in this England squad, you would expect the coach to be more attacking.

The former Liverpool and West Brom manager may go with two up front, most likely in the form of Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge. Alternatively, Hodgson may choose to play with just Sturridge up top and drop Rooney back to play in the hole behind the Liverpool man.

Should Hodgson play with two defensive midfielders in front of the backline, then that's likely to be Steven Gerrard and Wilshere, although the Arsenal man may be used as a substitute in this match as a precaution.

Quite where Rickie Lambert fits into the squad, other than as a second-half substitute, is unclear, but if Plan A fails, then England can call upon the Southampton striker for an extra attacking option. 

Lambert's short international career has seen him score two goals in four appearances and it would be worth Hodgson seeing more of him in a match situation over the next three games.

England will certainly use this match to see how Adam Lallana will fit into a system. At Southampton he's been a regular in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with either Lambert or Jay Rodriguez as the lone striker. This is where it seems Lallana is best; a free role for him would suit England, but can Hodgson afford to hand him that position?

Another midfield option for the coach is England's 'Mr Dependable', James Milner, a player who can fit into numerous systems and can help out defensively if required. The Manchester City man is always willing to do a job for the team and, as one of the older members of the squad, Milner's experience may prove useful.

England have not played Peru for over 50 years and this is the first time the South American nation will have played at Wembley. The last time these two sides met, England won 4-0 in a warm-up match for the 1962 World Cup. Jimmy Greaves bagged a first half hat-trick in Lima, with Ron Flowers opening the scoring from the penalty spot. Friday night's game will be the third time these two sides have met, with Peru beating England 4-1 three years earlier.

Peru's coach, Pablo Bengoechea, will be in charge of the national side for the first time. The Uruguyan, in his first managerial job, took over from fellow countryman Sergio Markarian after he failed to guide La Blanquirroja to this year's World Cup.

The national side finished seventh out of nine South American countries and had only four victories from their eighteen matches, with the wins coming against Paraguay, Venezuela, Chile and Ecuador. They gained a notable draw against Argentina, but overall they lacked quality to qualify from what is a notoriously tough group.

The Peruvians will miss their talisman, Jefferson Farfan, who plays for Schalke in Germany. They are a squad lacking in experience; only two players are over the age of thirty, and the only one who is likely to feature is Alberto Rodriguez. Star striker, Claudio Pizarro, is 35 now and has not been selected for this squad.

Looking at recent form, Peru have failed to win an international match since beating Ecuador a year ago, while England meanwhile have not won in their last three international friendlies.

Nobody is expecting England to go deep into the tournament at the World Cup and many feel it will be a real test just to get out of the group.
Hodgson has more faith in his squad though and believes that England can go all the way in these finals. He will certainly learn a bit more about his players following these upcoming friendlies.