Phil Jagielka to captain England against Lithuania in Vilnius
Monday 12 October 2015 10:02, UK
Phil Jagielka has been confirmed as England's captain for their final European Qualifier against Lithuania on Monday night.
Regular skipper Wayne Rooney is now back with Manchester United after he was sidelined by an ankle knock for Friday's 2-0 win over Estonia.
Chelsea defender Gary Cahill deputised for the striker at Wembley but he has also been left out of the squad to face Lithuania having been released by manager Roy Hodgson.
That means Jagielka will wear the armband at the LFF Stadium in Vilnius as England look to complete a clean sweep of victories in their qualifying group.
It will be the first time the Everton centre-back has captained his country as he earns his 37th cap in the Baltic nation.
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Jagielka, speaking at England's press conference on Sunday afternoon, said: "I'm obviously delighted that Roy came and found me and broke the news. It's a great honour for me personally.
"We've got a big task ahead of us tomorrow and it's something we can be proud of. We started this campaign a while ago and the job was to try to win every single game.
"Normally you say that and probably not a lot of people expect you to do so but we've got some great performances along the way.
"It's nice that tomorrow night we'll hopefully have the opportunity to do so but we know it's going to be a difficult game.
"With a few of the boys going [home] and a few of us getting a bit of an opportunity, whether you've got caps or not, these are the opportunities you want.
"The squad is strong. It's up to us who get the chance tomorrow to go and prove ourselves and put a performance on."
