Frank Lampard will captain England against Chile at Wembley this evening, on a night where he will receive his Golden Cap.
He will be handed the honour, which is given to any England player who reaches over 100 international appearances, by two men who have been heavily involved in his career – father Frank Snr and Sir Geoff Hurst.
Should he play both tonight and against Germany on Tuesday, Lampard will move to within one cap of Billy Wright, while his Blues teammate Ashley Cole is also currently on 105 caps, and will hope to add to that tally over the next few days.
However, the former Arsenal man is facing still competition from Leighton Baines for a starting place both this weekend and at next summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil.
Manager Roy Hodgson has expressed his joy at his wealth of options in the left-back position with Arsenal’s Kieron Gibbs and Southampton’s Luke Shaw pushing both Cole and Baines in the hope of game time.
Elsewhere, Manchester United are set to offer Wayne Rooney a contract worth around £52m in a hope to bury any interest Chelsea have in signing him.
The forward has been in fine form this season having been strongly linked with a move to Stamford Bridge during the summer.