Bent eyes England return

20 August 2009 15:07
Darren Bent is hoping his impressive early-season form with Sunderland will help him back into the England reckoning. The £10million summer signing bagged the winner against Bolton on the first day of the season and then opened the scoring against Chelsea before the Blues produced a blistering display to hit back for a 3-1 triumph. Fabio Capello was on hand at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night to witness Bent's goalscoring home debut. And with the Italian pondering his options ahead of the 5th September friendly with Slovenia and the World Cup qualifier against Croatia four days later, former Spurs striker Bent wants to force his way into the England manager's thoughts. With a third Premier League game in the space of eight days against Blackburn on Saturday, the 25-year-old hopes to continue his excellent start to life with the Black Cats. He told the Sunderland Echo: "If I can get another goal against Blackburn, that would just top things off for me and maybe it would give me a chance of an England shout. "I don't want to think too much about it but, if I play regularly for Sunderland and get goals and we push up the league, who knows - there might be something for me with England." Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has early season injury concerns for the home meeting with Rovers as Steed Malbranque (ankle), Lee Cattermole (back) and Lorik Cana (suspected broken hand) are doubtful. Bent has called on his team-mates to bounce back from the disappointment of the Blues defeat and believes they have a side who can cause Blackburn problems. He added: "It's another important game and if we rest our bones and get the injured players back fit, there's no reason why we can't go on and get another three points. "We've certainly got the players to do that. "Blackburn had a bad result at the weekend against Manchester City and, even though we lost to Chelsea, the boys are still confident we can do really well."

Source: SKY_Sports