Ray of light brightens England bid

Ray Parlour is hoping that his impressive run of form for Arsenal will be enough to earn a place in the first England squad of new national manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

The Swede was at Highbury to see Parlour show both his versatility and his eye for a goal as Arsenal moved back into second place in the Premiership.

Parlour's performance was a significant one and he spoke today of his ambition to be part of Eriksson's plans for the forthcoming World Cup qualifying campaign.

"England means a lot to me and I love to be involved," said Parlour, who scored his fifth goal of the season with a 20-yard drive.

"But you can only do well for your club. Then if you are picked, you are picked. You can't look at it any other way."

Eriksson will decide on his first squad for the friendly with Spain in the next three weeks and Parlour said: "It would be great if I was in it. I was in the one for the last game in Italy and I played wing-back, an unusual position for me. But to put on an England shirt, you don't mind where you play. If I'm selected, I would be delighted.

"I think I have done okay. I have scored five goals this season, which is good for me. The most I have scored is six, and that was in 1998 when we did the Double.

"I would like to score a few more and 10 goals from midfield is a good return to aim for."

Parlour's value to Arsenal was clearly illustrated against Bradford. He started in central midfield as the partner of Patrick Vieira and then moved to a wide position to accommodate the arrival of Gilles Grimandi when Lauren went off.