Sweden rest Ljungberg

Ljungberg missed Sweden's last match with an injury

Arsenal's Freddie Ljungberg has pulled out of Sweden's squad to face England on 31 March in Gothenburg.

Ljungberg has recently returned after a back injury and Swedish coaches Lars Lagerback and Tommy Soderberg want the midfielder to rest.

"Fredrik can play, we know that, but with a thought to Arsenal's schedule we don't want to contribute to pulling him down even more," said Lagerback.

"In the long run it's better for the national team that he rests."

Ljungberg played for manager Arsene Wenger's Arsenal on Sunday in an intense encounter against Manchester United.

The rivals play again in the FA Cup on Saturday and a midweek game may have had a detrimental effect on Ljungberg who will be a key figure for Sweden at Euro 2004.

"Wenger doesn't want Fredrik to play," added Lagerback.

"But even if he hadn't expressed his views we would still have made the same decision."

England last met coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's native Sweden in a 1-1 draw at the 2002 World Cup.

Lagerback and Soderberg have also included Aston Villa striker Marcus Allback and defender Olof Mellberg in their 23-man squad.

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Sweden squad:
Andreas Isaksson, Magnus Hedman, Magnus Kihlstedt, Christoffer Andersson, Mikael Dorsin, Erik Edman, Andreas Jakobsson, Teddy Lucic, Olof Mellberg, Johan Mjallby, Michael Svensson, Marcus Allback, Anders Andersson, Johan Elmander, Pontus Farnerud, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mattias Jonson, Kim Kallstrom, Tobias Linderoth, Mikael Nilsson, Anders Svensson, Christian Wilhelmsson.