Jeffers bids to follow the Owen path

Leo Spall13 April 2012

Arsenal's Francis Jeffers today said that Michael Owen's hat-trick against Germany had set the standard for all young strikers.

The 20-year-old is hoping he will start for England's Under-21s against Albania tonight and get the chance to emulate the Liverpool forward's superb performance in the senior side's 5-1 win on Saturday.

His own injury time goal against the German juniors last Friday gave David Platt's team a 2-1 win and a good chance of qualifying for the European Championships.

But Jeffers said today: "Every young striker will be wanting to emulate what Owen has done. It will be tough though because he is an unbelievable player.

"I watched the match and in every game I see I look at what the strikers are doing, especially in internationals. You can pick things up by seeing how they play and make their runs. Owen's movementand finishing was superb." Jeffers has a good chance of featuring for the Under-21s at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium tonight because of his goal and the suspension of West Ham's attacking midfielder Joe Cole.

Defenders John Terry, of Chelsea, and Charlton's Luke Young are also banned tonight but Jeffers is just pleased to be a part of the England set-up.

"I was disappointed not to start against Germany but we all know it is a squad thing and all the players get on really well," he said. "It is tough coming off the bench to play in any game, never mind against Germany and you have to pick up the pace as quickly as possible. So I was pleased to score and hope I get a chance against Albania."

Jeffers accepts that he may have to start as a substitute again but he respects the decisions made by manager Platt. He added: "We have only had two games under Platt but the results have been good and everyone likes working with him, as they did when Howard Wilkinson was in charge.

For Jeffers, the England experience is part of the learning curve which he hopes will allow him to live up to the value put on him when Arsenal paid Everton £8 million for his services in June.

He is going through a settling-in period at Highbury and knows he will have to realise his full potential to become the first choice 'fox in the box' that manager Arsene Wenger wants him to be.

Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Nwankwo Kanu and Sylvain Wiltord all stand in his way but Jeffers is happy to bide his time.

He added: "I am just trying to work my way into the first-team and it is great playing with all the world-class players there are at the club. It is a bit of a learning curve for me at Arsenal at the moment and I am enjoying it."

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