Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand says it's time Darren Bent was given his England chance.

Bent struck a superb hat-trick in their thrashing of Bolton Wanderers this week.

Ferdinand said: "Darren's right up there with any striker in the Premier League. His record shows that you can put him up with the best.

"He's an England player who has a chance of getting into that World Cup squad and all he has to do is to keep playing well for us. If he does that you just can't ignore him, not just in terms of his goals but his work off the ball."

And he added: "This win has taken some pressure off us, but we know we're still in a dogfight."