Jeffers plans rapid rise

Jeffers has his sights set on England

Francis Jeffers has warned Arsenal's striking order that he is gunning for their first team places.

Jeffers joined forwards Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Sylvain Wiltord and Nwankwo Kanu when he moved to the London outfit from Everton in a £10m move during the summer.

And, even though the Merseysider knows he is down the Highbury pecking order, he is planning for a rapid rise at the expense of his forward rivals.

My dream has always been to play for England

Francis Jeffers

"Any footballer wants to play as many games as he can but with so many world-class strikers you are not going to play every time," he said.

"But if I'm doing well in the Premiership and scoring goals, hopefully he (manager Arsene Wenger) will give me a run in Europe.

"I'm looking forward to playing against the best players in Europe and the world."

Jeffers helped the England Under-21 side to a 4-0 win against Holland on 14 August but has targeted a place in the full international squad.

"Everyone in the Arsenal squad is an international. They are all world class players which, with all due respect to Everton, they weren't there.

"All the players here are going to help me improve. My dream has always been to play for England," he said.

Jeffers says that he left his boyhood heroes Everton for football reasons and praised former Arsenal striker and ex-Goodison team-mate Kevin Campbell for his guidance.

"He has been a big influence on my career," said Jeffers. "He was always talking to me and telling me how to play against defenders."