Stuart Pearce has called up Micah Richards and Aaron Lennon into a strong England Under-21 squad for this month's two-legged Uefa Championship play-off against Wales.

Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor, who was widely thought to be on the verge of a place in the senior side, has also been named in the 23-man squad.

Pearce has named a number of Premier League players including David Wheater, James Milner and Mark Noble while Southampton's 20-year-old midfielder Adam Lallana features for the first time.

Lallana is one of only three players in the squad to be uncapped at under-21 level, alongside Ryan Bertrand, the Chelsea defender currently on loan at Norwich, and Wolves' in-form striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

England travel to Cardiff for the first leg on October 10 before a decider at Villa Park four days later, with the victors claiming a place in next summer's finals in Sweden.

The countries last met in a friendly in Wrexham in May, when Bryan Flynn's youngsters were defeated 2-0 thanks to goals from Tom Huddlestone, who is included in the latest squad, and Theo Walcott, who will not be involved this time due to senior England responsibilities.

"That result in May probably flattered us on the day, we didn't play particularly well," Pearce said.

"Wales at this level are the strongest they have been in their history. They have seven players with full caps. There are not too many countries in Europe that can boast that."

England (from): Hart (Manchester City), Heaton (Manchester Utd), Lewis (Peterborough); Bertrand (Chelsea), Cranie (Portsmouth), Gardner (Aston Villa), Mancienne (Chelsea), Richards (Manchester City), Taylor (Newcastle), Wheater (Middlesbrough); Cattermole (Wigan), Huddlestone (Tottenham), Johnson (Middlesbrough), Lallana (Southampton), Lennon (Tottenham), Milner (Aston Villa), Muamba (Bolton), Noble (West Ham), O'Hara (Tottenham); Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Campbell (Manchester United), Derbyshire (Blackburn), Ebanks-Blake (Wolves).