England Trio Rooney, Kane And Vardy Hit Top Form

03 February 2016 13:56

England head into the European Championships in the summer with skipper Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy the three main contenders to lead Roy Hodgson's attack.

The trio are all currently in good goalscoring form as they state their own case to lead the line when the Three Lions meet Russia in their Group B opener on June 11.

Vardy's goals continue to grab the headlines as he fires Leicester towards an unlikely Barclays Premier League title push and Rooney has also started 2016 in fine form.

The Manchester United captain was much-maligned earlier in the season but he has hit a purple-patch in 2016, scoring seven goals in his last seven appearances and also weighing in with two assists in 676 minutes on the pitch.

That means the 30-year-old has been involved in nine of United's last 14 goals as he continues to prove any doubters wrong, averaging a goal every 96.6 minutes.

Rooney's latest effort came in Tuesday's routine 3-0 win over Stoke, while at the same time Vardy was scoring a memorable goal of the season contender as part of a brace in a 2-0 victory at home to Liverpool.

Vardy has four England caps but has yet to grab his first international goal and, despite breaking the record for goals in successive Premier League games earlier in the campaign when he struck in 11 games in a row, he has tailed off slightly since the turn of the year.

A slight injury has limited the 29-year-old to only 474 minutes across all competitions in 2016 and he has scored just three goals.

With Leicester still three points clear at the top of the table, Vardy's two goals against Liverpool will come as a relief to manager Claudio Ranieri - who has seen his main striker score those three goals from just six shots on target.

While Vardy is still waiting to break his international duck, Tottenham striker Kane managed it just 80 seconds into his England debut 11 months ago.

Since then the 22-year-old has established himself in Hodgson's squad and has continued his goalscoring feats at Spurs.

Like Vardy, Kane bagged two goals on Tuesday night and has now notched five times in 2016 to help Mauricio Pochettino's side keep their own championship challenge on track.

While not being the most prolific, Kane has been the busiest of the trio in his 607 minutes of competition, having 32 shots and getting half of them on target.

All three will be hopeful of maintaining their respective form to give Hodgson a selection headache in France - with the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott also potentially being involved.

Source: PA-WIRE