The Liverpool star has a broken toe but came through a training session on Friday and it remains to be seen if he will require a pain-killing injection before a match England need to win to maintain realistic hopes of reaching next summer's finals in Switzerland and Austria.

However, fellow midfielder Owen Hargreaves remains a doubt because of a thigh injury sustained during training on Wednesday. The Manchester United player will undergo a fitness test on Saturday morning.

McClaren also confirmed Paul Robinson will start in goal despite his mistake in the last England match against Germany.

He told Sky Sports News: "He has trained twice without an injection and if he plays tomorrow like he played this morning in training then everyone will be delighted.

"That's the kind of performance that we need and it's a big boost for everybody, most of all Stevie G because he desperately wants to play in this game. He came through it with no problems whatsoever."

Asked if he was pencilled in for tomorrow's game, McClaren replied: "I can more or less say yes."