Roy Hodgson Open to Starting Danny Welbeck Against Switzerland

England manager Roy Hodgson has refused rule out starting new Arsenal striker Danny Wekbeck ahead of captain Wayne Rooney for the European Championship in Basel opener against Switzerland on Monday.

Though Rooney scored his 41<sup>st international goal with a penalty to beat Norway at a half-full Wembley, England's performance significantly improved during the final 20 minutes when Welbeck was introduce to partner Daniel Sturridge.

Hodgson has continually kept faith with Rooney amid calls for him to be dropped from the England team and has suggested he is open to starting with Welbeck in attack next week upon the start of his side's Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

"When Danny came on we were already leading by one goal to nil," explained Hodgson. "In the first half we are playing a team who are not making too many attempts to attack us.

"It is not always right to compare performances in the first 20-25 minutes, with performances in the last 25 minutes.

"I am happy with Danny Welbeck, I did think he was very lively when he came on," he added.

"I do think that when Sterling looked good when he moved into the centre he showed the full range of his dribbling ability. It's nice to know that we have these options and we are not totally restricted to one-way play."

Bar a performance which saw England's hangover from their group stage exit at the World Cup continue, the only blemish on the evening was a recurrence of Gary Cahill's ankle injury.

The Chelsea defender was replaced late on by Phil Jagielka and was spotted with heavy strapping on his right ankle, however Hodgson is confident he will be available for the trip to Basel.

"He [Cahill] came with knock on the ankle as you know from the Everton-Chelsea game," he said. "I think he picked it up during the course of the week.

"He trained yesterday and could have completed the game today but we thought it was prudent to take him off with 10-15 minutes left but there should be no doubt about him being available [for Switzerland]."