World Cup qualifiers: England can't let nerves derail Brazil bid, says Jeff Stelling

It is unthinkable that England won't qualify for the World Cup, but then I felt the same in 1973...

I think there should probably be a role for Jack Wilshere, even if his form has been somewhat indifferent this season. We know that these are two games we are most likely going to have to win; what is absolutely certain, however, is that these are games we can't afford to lose. There's no question - and it has been a while since we've said this - that our strength now is going forward. We mustn't get carried away because Wayne Rooney hasn't always been at his best for England recently and Daniel Sturridge needs to prove that he can produce the same level of performance for his country as he has done his club. Neither of those is an absolute given, so we shouldn't get carried away. Personally, I would love to see Rickie Lambert start, purely on the basis of what we've seen in the last three internationals but he will almost certainly be on the bench and come on if we're in a little bit of trouble.

Jeff's Gem of the Week

It was a very easy choice this week - the honours go to Hartlepool, for their 4-1 win away at Mansfield, who were in the top three on the back of their best run as a Football League side. They'd gone 14 games unbeaten at home whereas we're a side that at the start of the season were being lampooned because we couldn't score goals, so it was a fantastic performance from what is an exceptionally young team. Hartlepool scored one goal in the first six games of the season; in the last seven games we've scored 16, so I think it's fair to say that Colin Cooper is getting it right! Our reward for beating the third-from-top side away from home last week is an away trip to the side that is now third top - Exeter. So it is going to be tough to repeat the feat to say the least, but in a season of ups and downs I'm delighted to say that this result was a real up.