Soccer: Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard will captain England in Wednesday's international friendly with Denmark in Copenhagen.

Lampard has been given the armband after regular captain Rio Ferdinand was ruled out with a groin injury suffered ahead of Manchester United's game with Wolves on Saturday.

Steven Gerrard would have been favourite to replace Ferdinand but will also miss the game due to injury despite playing 90 minutes of Liverpool's win over Chelsea on Sunday.

Lampard has suffered major injury woes this season, and has not been involved with England since August, but England boss Fabio Capello believes he will be one of the fittest players on the pitch tomorrow night.

"I spoke with him about injuries that he suffered and I have been monitoring him during the last give games that he played," Capello said. "He improved a lot. I saw the game they played against Liverpool and he played a really good game. I followed him practically the whole game and I think at this moment he is probably fresher than the other players."

Lampard will line up alongside Jack Wilshere in midfield, with the Arsenal youngster being asked to play a more defensive role than he has in the past, but Capello is confident the 19-year-old is ready.

"In the last two months he has improved a lot with his confidence and also the confidence of the other players like Cesc Fabregas and (Andriy) Arshavin when he has the ball," Capello said.

Capello also confirmed that Aston Villa's record signing Darren Bent will start the game.

"I have watched two games he has played for Aston Villa," Capello said. "When he was with Sunderland he played a different style because the manager asked him to stay close to the box and be fresh to score goals, but now he runs a lot more, presses a lot because the team play with a different style.

"He played well before but if you want to play with the seniors at this moment you have to be good when you go forward but also when you have to win the ball back and I think he has improved a lot."

Capello also insisted that he had no doubts over the motivation of his team to represent their country, despite fresh questions being raised by another rash of high-profile withdrawals from international duty.

"I never saw this," Capello said. "All the players that played with England, they try to do the best for us in every moment. I think this team have found every time a good spirit and I am really happy with these players and the players that played before.

"Sometimes people don't see or can't understand that they played with pride, but the performance every time is 100 per cent. Sometimes 100 per cent is not enough (to win)."