King out of England squad

Ledley King is set to play against the Dutch

Young defender Ledley King will miss the chance of his England debut against Holland in Amsterdam because of a virus.

The Tottenham defender was in line for his first senior cap as Sven-Goran Eriksson looked to experiment with his squad.

But illness is now set to deprive King of his much-heralded elevation from the under-21 ranks.

The three remaining uncapped players in Eriksson's squad, defender Wayne Bridge and strikers Michael Ricketts and Darius Vassell, are all set to all play some part in the friendly match.

Wayne Bridge is a modern player with a good left foot and I like attacking full-backs

Sven-Goran Eriksson

Captain David Beckham and Steven Gerrard had both been injury doubts after picking up injuries at the weekend.

Initially, the pair were rated doubtful for the Holland clash, but Eriksson confirmed both are now likely to start.

"They did everything in training and had no problems at all," confirmed the England coach.

But striker Michael Owen pulled out of the squad on Monday after feeling a recurrence of a knee ligament injury picked up during Liverpool's win at Ipswich on Saturday.

Owen withdrew with a knee injury

"I'm not a doctor, but I don't think it's a big injury," said Eriksson.

"In a couple of days, he should be fit again, but if I am not sure then I don't like him playing in a friendly.

"It is important he is fit in June."

Owen's absence increased the chances of Ricketts and Vassell playing some part in the game.

But Southampton left back Bridge seems the most likely starter, with Ashley Cole out injured.

"He is a modern player with a good left foot and I like attacking full-backs," said Eriksson.

"But you have to defend too and he is very interesting. He is doing much better than last season."

We are in February and if we want to see some other players I think it's the right time

Sven-Goran Eriksson

Darren Anderton and Trevor Sinclair had already withdrawn from the squad when they met on Monday.

Eriksson is also without Kieron Dyer, Martin Keown, Nick Barmby and goalkeeper David Seaman through injury.

The Swede is keen to experiment in the Amsterdam friendly but wants a solid foundation to his team.

"All four of the new players deserve to have a chance," he said.

"They have played very well in the league and they are all young.

"I'm sure all will have a good future, but whether that is at the end of May, in September or in one year, I don't know."

Eriksson is relieved to have his captain available

The England coach believes Wednesday's friendly offers him his last chance to experiment before finalising his plans for his 23-man squad for Japan.

"We are in February and if we want to see some other players I think it's the right time," he said.

"It's a good test for some of them starting and for some of them coming in.

"I can confirm at the end of the March - when we play against Italy.

"You can't experiment very much beyond that and our next friendly will be in April. It will be getting tighter and tighter."

But Eriksson denied that Wednesday's result was unimportant and suggested he was keen to make ammends for last August's defeat by the Dutch at White Hart Lane.

That friendly defeat remains the only reverse during Eriksson's England reign so far.

"We have already lost against Holland and the score is important.

"Beating them would be good for confidence and good for morale.

"Then again, I can lose all the friendlies if we beat Sweden in June. I would have no problem with that."

BBC One will show highlights at 2245 GMT while Radio Five Live will broadcast the game live.