With Wayne Rooney left out of the England squad for Wednesday’s clash with Belarus, Fabio Capello is presented with the opportunity of organising his side without the talismanic striker, who has contributed nine of England’s 31 goals in World Cup qualifying. Despite his fantastic form, some commentators have suggested that England are perhaps over-reliant on a player who has in the past been absent from various matches for his country through injury and suspension.
One option for Capello is to make more use of goalscoring midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, the third and sixth-highest scorers in the Premier League last season. However, with Gerrard now also ruled out of contention for Wednesday, the onus will be on Lampard to score from midfield. Fortunately, the Chelsea man has been in outstanding form at Wembley in recent times, scoring six goals in his last five outings there:
Frank Lampard - Last five appearances at Wembley
| Date | Team | Opposition | Competition | Goals | Score |
| 09/09/2009 | England | Croatia | WCQ 20010 | 2 | 5-1 |
| 05/09/2009 | England | Slovenia | Friendly | 1 | 2-1 |
| 09/08/2009 | Chelsea | Manchester Utd | Community Shield | 1 | 2-2 |
| 10/06/2009 | England | Andorra | WCQ 2010 | 1 | 6-0 |
| 30/05/2009 | Chelsea | Everton | FA Cup Final | 1 | 2-1 |
Nonetheless, though no one can doubt his importance to England, it is worth noting that Frank Lampard has been slightly off the boil in the Premier League this season. Whereas Gerrard has already bagged three goals in the competition with Liverpool, Lampard has netted only one penalty, and Opta’s statistics below suggest that the midfielder is having trouble in front of goal in the current campaign:
Frank Lampard - Premier League season comparison
| 2008/09 | Season | 2009/10 |
| 37 | Appearances | 8 |
| 12 | Goals | 1 |
| 52% | Shooting Accuracy | 22% |
| 11% | Goals-to-shots Ratio | 6% |
| 10 | Goal Assists | 4 |
| 84% | Pass Completion | 78% |
This season, only around one in five of Lampard’s efforts have been on target – a marked reduction from last season when over half of his efforts tested the opposition goalkeeper. Though his creativity is as important as ever (only three players have assisted more than his four goals this season), Fabio Capello will be keen for him to find his goalscoring boots against Belarus to prove there is life in England without Rooney and Gerrard.
