Sven: Owen will break record

Sven-Goran Eriksson today promised to name an unchanged side to face Azerbaijan and backed Michael Owen to become England's record goalscorer.

The head coach was full of confidence after Saturday's 4-0 World Cup qualifying win against Northern Ireland and wants a repeat performance at St James' Park tomorrow night.

He does not expect England to beat the 8-0 drubbing Azerbaijan suffered against Poland at the weekend but he believes Owen is likely to be on the scoresheet.

Eriksson said: "What I can see now is that we're going to play same XI from the start.

"They played very well for all the 90 minutes against Northern Ireland. It was a good performance, very stable and controlled, and we created a lot of chances. I was very happy. It is important to win against Azerbaijan and make a performance as we did on Saturday but I don't believe you can go into a football game asking players to score five or eight.

"It will not be like that. I have been in Italy for many years and talking like that brings bad luck, so I hope that's not the case."

One goal target Eriksson does think could be passed in the future is Bobby Charlton's 49-goal England scoring record.

Real Madrid striker Owen took his international tally to 29 goals against Northern Ireland and, at 25-years-old, has time on his side.

Eriksson said: "Michael is still very young and I think he will go on to score a lot of goals for England.

"He has a good chance of breaking the record. He is an extremely good finisher and is the man for the big games."