Ray Parlour and Tim Sherwood may be asked to put their previously uncapped heads together in England's midfield at Wembley on Saturday as Kevin Keegan seeks to replace an anchor, David Batty, with two grappling hooks.

Certainly, the England coach has not ruled out the possibility of risking the two players' lack of international experience in the crucial European Championship qualifier against Poland.

Having lost Batty to a chest infection and with Paul Ince suspended, Keegan looks like being forced to give up any notion of replacing like with like and virtually admitted as much yesterday.

"You can't play someone in the holding position who's never played there," he explained. "You don't invent these players.

"I dare say there's one or two in the squad who could do it but I may find myself thinking that we're better playing another way. We haven't got Ince or Batty so we've now got an opportunity to try something else. Who knows? It could be the turning point, it might be the best thing that ever happened or it might not; we'll find out on Saturday."

While Keegan admits that playing two newcomers in midfield would not be the ideal situation for a match of such importance - "it would be nice for a midfielder with a first cap to have someone alongside him with 30 or 40" - he is clearly prepared to put his faith in the consistent form Parlour and Sherwood are showing for Arsenal and Tottenham.

"Nobody's playing better than them at club level in their respective positions," he insisted, "so come on, why not bring them into the side on Saturday? We'll all learn something and it might be very positive."

Sherwood and Parlour, moreover, could work in tandem against Poland (one attacking, the other holding) much as Ray Wilkins and Bryan Robson used to operate for England.

Tactically, Keegan's most likely alternative would be to move David Beckham inside with Parlour filling his normal Arsenal role on the right. As a TV pundit, the England coach has always felt that Beckham would be more valuable in a central position but acknowledges that the high quality of his crosses is an essential part of his game.

Either way, Sherwood seems likely to play in whatever system Keegan adopts and he will keep an open mind until England train at Wembley tomorrow morning, which will be the deadline for the present crop of injured players to prove their fitness.

Michael Owen, who has not trained since damaging a hamstring at Derby 11 days ago, is almost certain to be out of Saturday's game, which would presumably guarantee Andy Cole's place in attack alongside Alan Shearer.

Robbie Fowler, Darren Anderton and Chris Sutton are the other principal doubts and Keegan may yet call up another striker as cover.

At the moment Keegan's most likely choice, with David Seaman in goal, involves a back four of Gary Neville, Adams, Campbell and Le Saux; a midfield of Parlour, Beckham, Sherwood and McManaman, and Shearer and Cole up front. Scholes, however, is a factor which could upset such cosy assumptions.

Germany coach Erich Ribbeck, looking ahead to the matches against Northern Ireland on Saturday and Finland next Wednesday, said yesterday: "We're in the line of fire not only in Germany, but also throughout Europe.

"We will know after these two matches exactly where we stand. With six points we would be very optimistic of qualifying, with four confident, with three a little less. I don't think it's possible that we would fail to get any points."

Scotland defender Colin Hendry intends to retire from international football after Euro 2000. The 33-year-old Rangers player misses out on the home qualifiers against Bosnia this Saturday and the Czech Republic next Wednesday as he recovers from an ankle injury.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) yesterday lost their appeal to UEFA, who stood by an original decision to insist that the June 9th showdown with the Danes goes ahead at Anfield. UEFA said there was "no urgent sporting or organisational reasons" to switch the tie.

As expected, Zinedine Zidane's knee injury has forced him to withdraw from France's Group Four qualifier against Ukraine. He will probably be replaced in midfield by Robert Pires.