Al Hain-Cole takes a look at those with something to prove at Wembley, including Liverpool duo Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson

Wednesday’s friendly against Denmark provides England players with a final opportunity to impress before Roy Hodgson announces his provisional World Cup squad in May, with a place in Brazil potentially up for grabs.

With Theo Walcott out injured, Raheem Sterling will be particularly keen to stake his claim as the Arsenal winger’s replacement, having received a first senior call-up since November 2012.

Considering his integral role in a rampant Liverpool side recently, the 19-year-old is well worth the 5/4 (2.25) odds still available with to make the final squad in the summer, with that price bound to drop should he carry his club form into Wednesday’s international friendly.

Team-mate Jordan Henderson has also starred for the Reds this campaign and must be fancied at 5/6 (1.83) to make the cut, having come on leaps and bounds since his inclusion in Hodgson’s Euro 2012 squad.

Henderson’s impressive partnership with England captain Steven Gerrard at the heart of Liverpool’s midfield may also add weight to the 23-year-old’s claims to be included in Hodgson’s final squad.

Nobody will be more eager to make an impression than Luke Shaw, who is in line to make his international debut at the tender age of 18, after some mature performances for Southampton this season.

However, with Ashley Cole 1/20 (1.05) and Leighton Baines 1/25 (1.04) in his way, this tournament may come slightly too soon for the young left-back, hence the 11/4 (3.75) price on him making the trip to Brazil this summer.

Shaw is just the latest member of a growing Southampton contingent in the Three Lions camp, with Rickie Lambert 5/6 (1.83), Adam Lallana 5/6 (1.83) and Jay Rodriguez 4/1 (5.00) all vying to seal their inclusion, after taking their chance on the international stage this season.

An injury to Phil Jagielka 1/20 (1.05) has given Steven Caulker 4/1 (5.00) his first chance to impress since grabbing a debut goal in the 4-2 defeat against Sweden in late 2012, although he is up against it, as he must rise above Gary Cahill 1/25 (1.04), Chris Smalling 1/3 (1.33) and Phil Jones 1/5 (1.20) in the pecking order to grab one of the four centre-back spots in this summer’s squad.

Despite missing out on a call-up to face Denmark, Hodgson insists the door is not closed for the likes of Adam Johnson 3/1 (4.00) and Gareth Barry 7/1 (8.00) to force their way onto the plane to Rio should they continue to impress for their clubs this campaign.

Sign up with for a £25 free bet

Al Hain-Cole is an experienced tipster and avid follower of European football. He specialises in accumulators and if you would like to read more from Al you can follow him on Twitter here.

In hindsight it seems laughable that there were rumours Arjen Robben would be surplus to requirements at Bayern Munich following Pep Guardiola’s appointment as coach last summer.

The Netherlands winger has flourished under his new boss and no more so than in recent weeks. The 30-year-old was excellent in the 2-0 Champions League win over Arsenal at the Emirates and then struck a hat-trick to put Schalke to the sword in a 5-1 win on Saturday.

Goal’s Alec Fenn said: “The last thing the Schalke defence needed was the sight of Arjen Robben sprinting towards them after being torn apart by Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale on Wednesday.

“The winger smelt blood from the first whistle and scored his first of the game on 15 minutes with a lovely chip over Ralf Fahrmann.

“His second, on 28 minutes, was a trademark bending effort into the bottom corner from the right with his left foot and he wrapped up his hat-trick from the penalty spot late on to make it 10 goals in 18 league games.”

The Shortlist

Lucas Moura – PSG Goal’s Alec Fenn: “Came close to scoring the goal of the season in a terrific man-of-the-match performance.”
Carlos Tevez – Juventus  @AzizMashaan: “What a goal from Tevez #BOOM.” Goal’s Kris Voakes: “Showed AC Milan what they’re missing by scoring in Juve’s 2-0 win at San Siro.”
Luis Suarez – Liverpool  @Liddellpool: Suarez has scored 62 goals in his first 100 Premier League games.” Goal’s Miles Chambers: “Scored and again showed his quality as Liverpool beat Southampton 3-0.”
Aritz Aduriz – Athletic Bilbao @T1J6D: “That’s some technique to lift the ball that way, so hard to perform.” Goal’s Jorge Martin Barrios: “Aduriz’s hat-trick led Athletic Bilbao to an impressive 4-0 win over Granada.”

The Reds chief confirms that a bid from Arsenal just slightly over the Uruguayan forward’s release clause was rejected during last summer’s tense transfer negotiations

Liverpool owner John W Henry has confirmed that Luis Suarez did have a €49 million release clause in his old contract but revealed that the club refused to sell the striker to Arsenal because “contracts don’t seem to mean a lot in England”.

Arsene Wenger’s side submitted a €49m-plus-€1 bid in an attempt activate the Uruguay international’s clause but the Reds claimed that the player only needed to be informed of offers over €49 and were not obliged to sell.

Liverpool maintained their no-sale stance regarding Suarez throughout the summer transfer window and the forward signed a new long-term deal with the club in December.

“Luis Suarez is the top scorer in the English Premier League, which is arguably the top soccer league in the world,” Henry is reported to have said at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

“He had a buyout clause of £40m. Arsenal, one of our prime rivals – this year we’re tied for second – we’re actually second because of goal difference – offered £40m plus £1.

“What we’ve found is that contracts don’t seem to mean a lot in England – actually, in world football.

“It doesn’t matter how long a player’s contract is, he can decide he’s leaving.

“We sold a player, Fernando Torres, for £50m, that we did not want to sell – we were forced to. Since apparently these contracts don’t seem to hold, we took the position that we’re just not selling.

“It’s been great for Luis, it’s been great for us.”