England v Sweden Preview: In the wake of Thursday's late and largely unimpressive defeat of Trinidad and Tobago in Nuremberg one well-known veteran of the English press corps noted that Sven Goran Eriksson's men had already established themselves as the most consistent side at this World Cup. "We have," he observed dryly, "been shit in both games."

The language was more polite the next day in the published verdicts on the game but the remark accurately set the tone for much of what was to follow. The Swede got the equivalent of the "turnip treatment" in most of the papers and he has not been helped much since by one of the squad's most senior figures deciding to fight his own corner by criticising the team's overall performances.

While most of the players have maintained in public that their progress to date has been satisfactory, Michael Owen made an unscheduled appearance after training on Sunday in order to tell the press he will start scoring again when adequate service is resumed.

With Wayne Rooney back and a place in the last 16 already assured, though, it was all sweetness and light between Eriksson and the soccer writers yesterday. For half an hour he looked relaxed as he talked about the game to a chaotic gathering of reporters and cameraman in the bowels of the match stadium. Not once was he asked anything more contentious than how much would it mean to him to beat his native Sweden this evening and the closest thing by way of controversy in reply was when he observed that, "I like to think I am not crazy".

Eriksson confirmed Gary Neville was still unavailable due to a calf strain while Owen will partner Rooney in attack. Steven Gerrard who, like Peter Crouch is currently on a yellow card, will be rested with Owen Hargreaves rather than the more creative Michael Carrick expected to play alongside Frank Lampard.

The guarantee of a place in the next round makes it much easier for the England coach to shuffle his pack ahead of this game but if Germany beat Ecuador in Berlin this afternoon there will still be considerable pressure to avoid a slip-up that would oblige Eriksson's men to take on the hosts in Munich on Saturday. This may not be a great German side but the consensus is that it would be best to avoid them on home turf.

If Jürgen Klinsmann's men fail to win and England do enough against Sweden to top Group B then the two sides will meet anyway, albeit in Stuttgart on Sunday, but Eriksson insists that he will not concern himself with how the other group finishes.

"It is," he says, "always best to win the group. We won't know the result from the other game until an hour beforehand and you have to prepare for these games much further in advance than that. It is the most important thing for us now, we didn't do it either two or four years ago and it would be very nice for us to do it now."

For the Swedes the stakes are a good deal higher ahead of the game. Their failure to score against Trinidad and Tobago has left them in a slightly precarious position although it would take an unlikely combination of a defeat at the hands of England, a win for Leo Beenhakker's side against Paraguay and the disappearance of their three-strong goal difference advantage to halt their progress.

Sweden have won four and drawn seven of their last 11 games against England , an undefeated run that stretches back some 38 years.

"I can't explain why it might be," admitted coach Lars Lagerback when asked about the remarkable record, "my only theory is that it is because we have a long tradition of our players going to play in England. They get to know the English players there very well and so maybe that is an advantage."

At yesterday's press conference Lagerback was coy about Zlatan Ibrahimovic's fitness but it's likely the 24 year-old Juventus striker has not sufficiently recovered from the groin strain that forced him out of the win over Paraguay. In his absence Marcus Allback will start up front alongside Henrik Larsson.

"We've played well and my only complaint so far," observed Lagerback, "is that we did not score any of the many chances we created against Trinidad and Tobago.

"What's important to us now, though, is that we draw this game. If we win then we get an extra day of rest and so sure, I'll say, 'thank you very much', but just to be in the next round . . . that would make us happy now."

Probable line-ups:

England (4-4-2)

Robinson; Carragher, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole; Beckham, Lampard, Hargreaves, Cole; Owen, Rooney. Coach: Sven-Goran Eriksson

Sweden (4-5-1)

Isaksson; Mellberg, Lucic, Edman; Linderoth, Alexandersson, Ljungberg, Wilhelmsson, Kallstrom; Allback, Larsson. Coach: Lars Lagerback

Referee: Massimo Busacca

Kick-off: 8.0pm

Venue: Cologne.

On TV: RTÉ 2, BBC 1 and UTV