England boss seeks to ease the pressure on Gunners star

9:15am Saturday 11th October 2008

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FABIO Capello will have a quiet word with Theo Walcott before the World Cup qualifier with Kazakhstan - to stop England's boy wonder trying too hard.

After a phenomenal hat-trick in the unexpected hammering of Croatia the teenager will make his Wembley debut, with England fans expecting big things.

"You have to try and play normally and not try to do too much," he said. "I am sure he will take that on board."

He added: "He's a very good boy. He is young but he is still the same - nothing has changed since Croatia. That hasn't surprised me. Why would it?"

Walcott takes his place in an unchanged front line but elsewhere, Capello has selection issues to contend with.

Skipper John Terry is sidelined by a back problem, leaving Rio Ferdinand to take the captain's armband and Matthew Upson, Wes Brown and Joleon Lescott hoping for a start.

And, while it may new the start of a bright new dawn at Wembley - Capello's words - there is a familiar problem as Steven Gerrard returns to the same midfield as Frank Lampard.

At various stages under Capello's predecessors Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren, either Lampard or Gerrard shone. But never both.

© Press Association 2008