MIDFIELD maestro David Dunn today declared himself fit and ready for England's friendly with Holland next week -- should Sven Goran Eriksson decide to hand him a call-up!
As I understand it, Dunn IS being considered for promotion to the senior squad after a string of impressive performances for Rovers in the Premiership this season.
Eriksson is keen to take a closer look at some of David Platt's England Under 21s with Dunn's name thought to be at the top of his hit-list.
And the 22-year-old has moved quickly to allay fears that he's not fit enough to be considered by revealing he has now made a full recovery from the calf injury which has kept him out of action for the last three weeks.
"I've not heard anything one way or the other to indicate whether I might get the call or not," said Dunn.
"But it would be fantastic to get the nod, and if the call came, then I'm fit and ready to be involved.
"I've done a lot of work with Dave Fevre, Paul Kelly and the doc over the last few weeks and I currently feel great.
"Just before I got injured I was feeling as sharp as I have done in a long time, particularly in the game against Manchester United.
"Obviously, your match fitness does suffer a little bit when you've not played for a couple of weeks.
"But I've been working hard to retain my sharpness and I don't think I've lost that in the time I've been out."
Dunn is set for a recall to Rovers' starting line-up against Fulham at the weekend as skipper Garry Flitcroft starts a three-match ban.
And an impressive performance in the capital could yet tip the balance in his favour with Eriksson set to his name his squad for the Holland match after Saturday's games.
Dunn is refusing to get carried away by all the speculation regarding his chances, however, deciding instead to focus on performing for Rovers.
"I've said all along, I don't think it's right for me as a young player to get carried away by all the hype.
"All I can do is continue to try and do my best for Rovers and if the England call comes as a result, then that's a bonus.
"That's what Graeme Souness keeps stressing to me and that's the only way I can seriously look at it. Obviously, playing for England would be a dream come true but the moment I get carried away by the idea is the moment my form will start to tail off."
Meanwhile, Dunn believes Rovers must get back to basics as they attempt to stop the rot at the foot of the table.
An alarming slump of nine defeats from the last 11 games has seen Graeme Souness's men slip into relegation trouble.
But Dunn believes there is more than enough quality in the side to turn things around.
"I know people once said Nottingham Forest were too good to go down and they promptly got relegated," said Dunn.
"But I genuinely believe we do have the players here to get ourselves out of it.
"We've been working on the defensive side of things a lot over the last couple of days and maybe we do need to start defending more as a team.
"But if we can get that side of things right then I'm sure we can start to turn it around, beginning at Fulham on Saturday."
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