Knight keen to win more England caps

Oct 9 2007 By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

ZAT Knight has spoken of his determination to break back into the full England fold.

The 27-year-old has been left behind at Bodymoor Heath at a time when the training ground is bereft of its big names due to a plethora of international call-ups.

Knight made his full England debut in May 2005 as a substitute against the United States on Sven-Goran Eriksson's end-of-season trip to North America and gained his second cap against Colombia.

With Fulham struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League for much of the time since then he has not got close to catching Steve McClaren's eye since. But his move to Villa Park has awakened his desire.

"Seeing the lads go away with their countries increases my hunger to get back into the England squad," he said. "It's something I want to do."

McClaren made a personal check on Knight and the rest of Villa's 'wannabe' England hopefuls against West Ham last weekend.

Knight turned in a commanding performance and hopes that McClaren keeps tabs on him in the future.

"The England manager was there on Saturday and hopefully I put in a good performance," said Knight. "Maybe he'll send some more scouts here to keep an eye on me. But my first job is to do well for Villa.

"When Villa are doing well, hopefully that means people will be talking about me as well."

Knight's partnership with Martin Laursen has allowed Villa to record three wins and a draw in five Premier League matches, with just the one defeat at Man City.

Laursen has been pretty impressive so far this season and Knight believes the arrival of Curtis Davies has kept all the defenders on their toes.

"At the moment Martin Laursen is doing really well and long may it continue," Knight said. "Both of us know there's plenty of competition to play at centre-half and I think that's why we're playing quite well.

"The fact is that if you do have a bad game, there's Curtis Davies and Olof Mellberg waiting to play in the middle. That keeps us on our toes."