Daniel Sturridge is set to make his first England start in tonight's friendly with the Republic of Ireland.

With Danny Welbeck virtually certain to be ruled out of the Wembley encounter after failing to shrug off a knee injury which presumably makes the Manchester United striker a major doubt for the second of England's two friendlies in Brazil on Sunday, Sturridge is the obvious candidate to partner Wayne Rooney in attack.

Remarkably, the Liverpool man's five previous caps came under three different managers in Fabio Capello, Stuart Pearce and Roy Hodgson.

But only since an outstanding late season run of form that brought Sturridge 11 goals in 16 appearances since his £12million transfer window switch from Chelsea - in the process becoming the fastest Liverpool player to reach 10 league goals - does Hodgson feel confident enough to hand him that coveted starting berth.

"Daniel Sturridge has been an enormous talent for many years," said Hodgson.

"Chelsea paid a lot of money for him from Manchester City before he'd broken into their team but he's been more of a regular at Liverpool.

"He's grown in confidence and week after week now we are seeing all the qualities we've always known he had."

Sturridge's explosive form for Liverpool means he almost certainly can not manage the same relative improvement.

However, Hodgson is looking for the 23-year-old to make a similar impact.

"In the same way Danny Welbeck did, we are hoping Daniel comes in and brings us something with his incredible pace, footwork and technical ability to help us win matches.

"This will be an opportunity for him to show he can do it at a higher level."

Source: Liverpool Echo