Up for the fight! Harry Kane can't have my England place says Wayne Rooney

The England captain is expected to earn his 102nd cap against Lithuania at Wembley tonight and will be going in search of a hat-trick to take him level with Sir Bobby Charlton at the top of the all-time England scoring charts on 49.

It comes with Roy Hodgson likely to make Kane wait for his debut with the Tottenham striker primed to come off the bench.

England are set to keep faith with Danny Welbeck, though with competition for places further fuelled by Raheem Sterling and, when he is fit, Daniel Sturridge, Rooney is taking nothing for granted.

“I’m not coming here to give my place up,” he said. “I want to play and keep my place so I’ll work as hard as them, harder than them, to make sure I’m in that team.

“To be honest, throughout my career, I’ve never come and met up with England believing I’m a guaranteed starter.

“I work hard in every training session, and I work hard on the pitch, to make sure I keep my place.

“It’s great having Harry Kane come through, and Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling, who can play up front.

“It makes me want to work harder because they’re exceptional talents. Certainly over the last few years, we’ve got a talented group of strikers.

"Sturridge came back recently after a long-term injury, Harry Kane has been doing well all season and scoring goals, Welbeck has been scoring goals.

“And myself? I’ve been scoring again since I’ve gone back up front. We’re doing well, and we’re fighting for those one or two places available up front.”

That recent spate of goals – five in seven games after a run of nine matches without finding the back of the net – has taken the pressure off Rooney’s position, but dropping the England captain is no longer unthinkable and there was clamour to do precisely that ahead of last summer’s World Cup.

Now, though, the race is one to get past Charlton’s mark as soon as possible – even if Rooney shies away from saying so to the England World Cup winner’s face.

“I speak to him quite regularly at the club especially after games,” he said. “But I don’t want to bring it up and say ‘I’m close to beating it’.

“No, he’s a great for Manchester United and England. He always gives me great advice and I have great chats with him.

“Obviously it’s close but it is important I focus on getting the three points on Friday. Yeah, it will be a fantastic moment for myself, a proud moment if I can do that. Hopefully one day it will happen and sooner rather than later.

“I just have to keep concentrating on what has got me to this position … and try to do my best for the team and hopefully I can get goals along the way.”