Man Utd and Man City stars vying for England captaincy

Thursday, October 11, 2012
12:21 PM

England boss Roy Hodgson must decide on a new skipper for tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier with San Marino after Chelsea’s Frank Lampard was ruled out with a knee injury.

Lampard has been unable to train properly after suffering a knee injury in Chelsea’s win over Norwich on Saturday.

He has now been released back to the Stamford Bridge outfit, and will return to the England camp on Sunday for further assessment ahead of next week’s crucial trip to Poland.

However, with Steven Gerrard suspended, Hodgson now requires someone to wear the armband.

It seems to be a straightforward choice between Joe Hart and Wayne Rooney, with the Manchester United man favourite to get the nod, a day after it was revealed wife Coleen was expecting the couple’s second child.

Rooney has done the job once before, against Brazil in Doha in 2009.

This would be the first time in a competitive fixture though, with Hart adamant Rooney should be regarded as favourite for the role.

“I’ve no idea who is going to be captain but I am pretty sure it will fall to Rooney,” said Hart.

“He is our star man with 10 million caps at the age of whatever he is, 26?

“I imagine he is a little bit further up the queue than me.”