Vardy and Kane form cause for English optimism

In Vardy and Kane, Hodgson has two strikers on fire as he plans for Euro 2016

Roy Hodgson has to wait six months until announcing his squad for next summer’s European Championships though with two of the strikers expected to make the cut in such fine form, he could be forgiven for wishing the tournament starts sooner.

Jamie Vardy is quite simply in blistering form. The much talked about record which he equalled at the weekend speaks for itself, but his tally of thirteen goals in thirteen games puts him up there with some of the very best strikers on the continent.

Aside from a recent injury scare which saw the former Fleetwood Town man miss England’s recent friendly international double header, his form shows no signs of slipping, and he could break Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in consecutive games against the Dutchman’s former club at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

Golden Boot

Vardy is four goals ahead of his nearest competition – Everton’s Romelu Lukaku – in the race to win the Premier League Golden Boot, while next on the list is Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kame.

The twenty-two year old was sandwiched inbetween Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa of Chelsea in last season’s list of top scorers in England’s top flight, and will have an eye on the prize this season after going on an incredible run of late.

It took Kane seven league matches to get his first goal of the season though since then he has notched up eight in seven and can now be backed at a price of 8/1 to finish the season on top of the goal-scoring charts.

Front runners

Both Vardy and Kane are odds on to may England’s Euro 2016 squad, as is Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge and captain Wayne Rooney.

Sturridge has consistently struggled with injury this season, and Rooney is far from at his goal-scoring best though if fit, the formers quality combined with the latter’s experience combined with Kane and Vardy on their current form gives England fans cause to be optimistic.

I remember my first international tournament as a football fan. When next summer’s tournament kicks off it will be twenty years since football came home, and England host the 1996 European Championships.

Competition for places

Any Three Lions manager from anytime would do anything to have as wide a choice of strikers as Terry Venables did then, with the then England boss eventually selecting Alan Shearer, Teddy Sherringham, Robbie Fowler and Les Ferdinand as his four forwards, who were the top four English goal-scorers from the previous Premier League campaign.

Missing out were the likes of Chris Armstrong, Stan Collymore, Ian Wright and Dion Dublin – all of whom hit double figures in 95/96 season while honorary mentions should also go to Chris Sutton and Matt Le Tissier.

While Hodgson’s options are not quite at vast, he will surely be encourage by his the form of his current incumbent, especially as he has still has six months of the season left to mull thing over. Let’s just hope that nobody gets injured.

Can Vardy and Kane maintain their form for the entire season?