Tottenham striker Peter Crouch insists he's not panicking over his place in England's World Cup squad.

The striker, who was speaking on a visit to an inner city football project called Skills4Life funded by the Team England Footballers Charity Outreach Programme, said: "I've had the pleasure of playing with Jermain (Defoe) for a long time, all the way through the England ranks from the Under 18s onwards. We played together in the Under 21s as well and again at Portsmouth.

"We've got a good goal record together and he's been fantastic this season, he's on absolute fire. He's always been a goalscorer but he's added more to his game this season and he looks very, very sharp.

"Now it's up to me to follow suit because if we're playing together and scoring goals together then it's something for the England manager to think about."

Crouch added: "The important thing is I need to be playing regularly for my club, scoring goals and playing well. But the manager has proved before if you are doing that he'll select you.

"It was difficult for me at the start of the season because I didn't have any pre-season at all, I think I only played one half of football. That held me back a bit. But I feel fit, I feel ready now and when I get a run of games I'm confident I'll be back in the set-up.

"I don't know if I'll be in the next squad for Croatia, I know I haven't played as much as I would like. But I'm confident that if we can reach the World Cup I'll be firing on all cylinders and ready to go."