By ESPN staff
England manager Roy Hodgson has announced that Robert Green, Steven Gerrard and Andy Carroll will start for England as they take on Norway in Oslo on Saturday.
Without England's Chelsea players at his disposal and with Wayne Rooney sitting out the encounter, options are limited for Hodgson's first game at the helm. He has chosen, though, to give Carroll and Green a chance to impress ahead of the tournament,
Besides those inclusions for the friendly encounter, Hodgson also gave positive reports on the fitness of recovering duo Glen John son and Danny Welbeck ahead of naming his final 23-man squad next Tuesday.
Hodgson told his Friday press conference: "Andy ended the season well and that was after a difficult start at
Liverpool. He ended the season well and he has continued in the same vein with us. A lot of positions are taken care of as we're still waiting for the Chelsea players and of course Wayne Rooney. I know what I am going to do, but I haven't told the players yet. The back-four takes care of itself. Steven Gerrard will start.
"I've been impressed with enthusiasm and energy the players have brought to the training sessions. It's always good when your first impression is a good one. Am I nervous? I'm more interested to see how these players do. Tomorrow is going to be an important step along the way as is next week's friendly with Belgium."
Regarding those recovering from injury ahead of Euro 2012, there was mixed news ahead of Saturday's game, but Hodgson remains positive that all concerned will be fit ahead of the tournament itself.
"Scott Parker is good, we were concerned about his Achilles but he's taken part in all the training and will be taking part tomorr ow," he said. "Glen Johnson has an infected toe that will keep him out of the game tomorrow, but we hope he'll be okay by next week. Danny Welbeck's injury has cleared up less quickly than we'd hoped, but medical expertise tells me he'll be okay."
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