James Tomkins is looking forward to a big week with club and country.
The 19-year-old central defender may be the one to benefit from the unfortunate knee ligament injury suffered by James Collins and the fact that Danny Gabbidon is not quite match-fit yet after his recovery from a groin problem. Tomkins came close to his senior-team debut when he made the matchday 16 against Arsenal on New Year's Day and Alan Curbishley has reiterated that he would not hesitate to use him in future.
"If the opportunity arises, I'll give them a game," said the West Ham United manager when asked about the chances of Tomkins, who has been a regular of late for the reserves, and midfield colleague Jack Collison breaking into the first-team picture. As well as the Wednesday night visit of Liverpool, West Ham United go to Wigan Athletic on Saturday. After that, Tomkins will join up with the England Under-19 squad for a Tuesday night friendly against Croatia in Swindon.
The match will be the perfect opportunity for England to prepare for the next qualifying phase of their bid to reach this July's final European U19 Championship final round in the Czech Republic. The Young Lions will meet Poland, Serbia and Belarus on 26, 28 and 31 May respectively with the group winners from this Elite round going forward to the eight-team finals. Jordan Spence, Junior Stanislas and Freddie Sears have also been in the U19 frame this season and all will have hopes of being involved as well.