In quotes reported by the Sun, Gerrard said: "The players and the manager realise that we are under pressure at the moment, which is normal after underperforming at the World Cup.

"It'll really help if we put in a good performance tomorrow and get the maximum points.

"Then we can obviously take the confidence from that into the Switzerland game on Tuesday.

"It's very important that we make a statement and show that we want to win the group and qualify comfortably.

"We qualified for the World Cup playing good, attacking football. If we can perform at that level I'm sure we'll get out of this group in similar fashion.

The 30-year-old Liverpool player admitted that there was more pressure on the Three Lions after their South African debacle, but believes that there is enough quality in the side to meet expectations this time around.

"The difficult thing is there's slightly more pressure on us this time around and we have to cope with that", Gerrard said.

The Manchester United striker did not score in any of England's four games in South Africa and appeared to have been affected by an injury picked up towards the end of last season.

FIFA's technical report, which has been published today, picks out Rooney, Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard as England's outstanding players.

Rooney is described as a "hard-working, energetic striker; worked hard for team; good technique".

Liverpool midfielder Gerrard was picked out as England's most influential player and praised as a "dynamic midfielder with good vision and technique, who linked defence and attack".

Cole, generally recognised as England's best player in the tournament, was described as a "competitive left-back with good technique, made forceful attacking runs".

The report was put together by FIFA's 16-man technical study group, including former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier and ex-Scotland boss and now UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh.

The report on England stresses "strong, hard-working players" with "aerial strength used effectively at set pieces in defence".

Ferdinand played for the reserves on Wednesday night against Oldham, the first time the defender had been in action since he suffered a major knee ligament injury in a freak collision with Emile Heskey on day one of World Cup training with England in South Africa.

Anderson, who played 90 minutes in the Oldham game, and Neville are also close to making their United comebacks after spells on the sidelines, and Giggs told United's official website: "The squad is looking really strong.

"We've got Rio to come back in, Nev hasn't played yet, and Anderson is back too. So it's looking really good."

United confirmed that all of their senior players, apart from those out on loan, had been registered with the Premier League ahead of yesterday's squad list deadline - including Owen Hargreaves, who has struggled for fitness over the last two years.

Giggs believes the number of players available to manager Sir Alex Ferguson may make team selection difficult, but is something United will feel the benefit of over the course of the campaign.

Chelsea extended their winning start to the Barclays Premier League season into a third game with a 2-0 success at home to Stoke.

Visiting keeper Thomas Sorensen saved Frank Lampard's feeble penalty after Ryan Shawcross had crudely brought down Didier Drogba, but Florent Malouda raced onto John Terry's nicely weighted through-ball to sweep his side into the lead with a fine first-time finish past the Dane (35), and Ashley Cole hit the crossbar shortly afterwards.

Stoke almost levelled when Glenn Whelan's long-range rocket also rebounded off the bar but Drogba converted a second penalty (77) after being tripped by Sorensen.

Tottenham suffered from a Champions League hangover as they went down to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Wigan.

Latics centre-half Steve Gohouri smashed the ball against the crossbar early on from Mauro Boselli's knockdown but Jermain Defoe forced a wonderful save from Ali Al Habsi in a rare attack from lacklustre Spurs.

Wigan squandered two clear chances, Antolin Alcaraz somehow firing over from two yards and Jordi Gomez also too high with an effort while stretching.

But Hugo Rodallega (80) finally found the net, controlling Mohamed Diame's raking long ball before his cross-shot bobbled beneath Carlo Cudicini's dive. Tom Huddlestone was then narrowly off target before Younes Kaboul missed a glorious late chance for Spurs, heading wide of an open goal.