Gerrard fit to start

Steven Gerrard will brush off his injury woes and line up for England against Israel on Saturday, but fellow midfielder Owen Hargreaves appears to be losing the race to be fit for the crucial Euro 2008 qualifier.
Gerrard, who has a broken toe, was able to play a full role in a training session on Friday while Hargreaves will only be risked if he comes through a late fitness test on the day of the match, head coach Steve McClaren revealed.
"Stevie has trained twice this week without an (pain-killing) injection and if he plays tomorrow like he did this morning everyone will be delighted," McClaren said.
"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."
McClaren added: "With Owen, we will leave it as late as possible to make a decision. He wants to play and we will give him every opportunity to do so."
The England coach also revealed that he had decided to persevere with Paul Robinson in goal, keeping faith with the Tottenham stopper despite a series of high-profile mistakes in recent months, including the one which led to Germany's first goal in a 2-1 friendly defeat last month.
McClaren said he had been impressed with Robinson's form in training this week. "He has done very, very well. He has always had my trust and confidence and I'm sticking with him."
England have been hit by a string of injuries to players including Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and David Beckham.
But McClaren insisted the mood in the camp was confident after three good days of preparations.
"This is not a friendly, it is the real thing. There can be no excuses, we have good enough players to win tomorrow and go on to the next game," he said.
McClaren would not be drawn on whether the recalled Emile Heskey would start alongside Michael Owen in attack, in the absence of the suspended Peter Crouch.
"All the strikers have done well this week," he said. "But the biggest boost we have got is that Michael Owen is fit and looking sharp. He has scored in his last two games and the biggest thing is not who is going to play with him but who is going to supply him, deliver the balls into the areas where he is so dangerous."
England skipper John Terry echoed McClaren's optimism about Gerrard's readiness, which has taken on greater significance because of the absence of Lampard, who is hoping to be fit in time for Russia's visit to Wembley on Wednesday.
"It was a full contact training session the manager wanted for Stevie and the other lads to make sure they were fully fit and they came out 100 percent, so it's great news."
Hargreaves is struggling with a thigh injury suffered during training on Wednesday and was restricted to light jogging with England physiotherapist Gary Lewin on the eve of the match.
Aston Villa's Gareth Barry is expected to be handed defensive duties in the centre of midfield if Hagreaves fails to recover sufficiently to play in a match England must win if they are to retain a realistic chance of reaching next year's finals in Austria and Switzerland.