Group E/England v Israel:John Terry last night dared to confront the unthinkable. "It would be a nightmare if we failed to win this game," the England captain said as he contemplated today's critical visit of Israel. "There are no excuses. We may have players out injured, but everyone does. We have to deal with that. Three points is the minimum we can come away with."

A year after they last won a home game, England will face the Israelis aware that they may well have to conjure four consecutive successes at Wembley from their final five qualifiers if they are to force a passage to next summer's European Championship.

Terry, for one, is convinced that that scenario will prove realistic. Momentum must be generated early against Israel's blanket defence, and retained for the visit of Russia on Wednesday. For that the hosts will need new-found incision.

Although defensive aberrations have scarred English performances in recent times, it has been an inability to pierce more resolute opponents which has truly threatened their progress. Aside from victories over the group's whipping boys, Andorra and Estonia, Steve McClaren's side have laboured too often. Their other four group games to date have yielded a solitary goal, against Macedonia, while even the relatively gung-ho display against Germany last month saw only one goal scored amid a plethora of chances.

It was with that rather gummy form in mind that Terry bemoaned Frank Lampard as the most significant of England's injured absentees. It might just as easily have been David Beckham, whose crosses have prompted three of the side's last four goals, or Wayne Rooney, or the regular scorer Peter Crouch, who is suspended. Regardless, there is presumably huge relief to be had in Steven Gerrard's availability. The Liverpool midfielder will forgo an injection in his broken toe to play. Terry himself has been playing with a fractured toe - although his is the little digit on his right foot, while Gerrard's is the big toe - which has required injections of Marcain, a local anaesthetic, to numb the pain.

"My toe is not getting any worse because of it," he said. "Where it might have taken four to six weeks to heal, now it may take six to eight months. But it's not going to kill me. As a player, you have a short career and I wouldn't want to miss a single game, for Chelsea or England. Whether it's going to hinder me when I'm 36 or 40, I don't know. But in 15 years' time I wouldn't want to say: 'I wish I could have played in this game.' Stevie is desperate to play."

England are eager to have him, just as they are Michael Owen. Fresh from goals in successive games for Newcastle United, the 27-year-old returns to the national squad with renewed confidence.

"Michael brings goals, and at vital times," said McClaren. " I don't know how many times I've sat on that bench for England and we've looked out of games when, all of a sudden, he has gone across the near post and glanced one in, or it has hit his shin and gone in. He's looking sharper every day he trains. We just need to supply the ball in the right areas, in the penalty area, for Michael to score."

McClaren also had a tricky decision to make after Paul Robinson's display against Germany recently but has kept faith with under-fire goalkeeper.

"Paul Robinson will be in goal," McClaren said yesterday. "It was a decision I made two or three days after the (Germany) game on reflection once the dust had settled, and on the reaction of Robinson in the last few games and in training this week."

Meanwhile, Israel coach Dror Kashtan has further ignited a potentially explosive game by telling McClaren to stop complaining about his injury problems. Kashtan said: "Pressure is part and parcel of the job for every international coach ahead of an important game."