Graphic: striking out for England

If Fabio Capello continues to swear by the formbook rather than respect reputations, Darren Bent will be joining the England manager on the road to Berlin. The Tottenham Hotspur striker's run of five goals in two games has come at an opportune moment, with the friendly match away to Germany in eight days' time.

A hamstring injury for Emile Heskey, who has started England's past three games, may create a vacancy in attack, although Capello had hinted that he may experiment as his team take a breather from competitive action after winning their opening four World Cup qualifying matches. Bent's two goals away to Manchester City on Sunday followed a hat-trick against Dynamo Zagreb in the Uefa Cup, making him a tempting alternative to the Wigan Athletic forward.

Bent's last act for England was to skim the Croatia crossbar as he sought a late equaliser that would have taken his country to Euro 2008. Since that moment, a year ago, he has risen from third or fourth-choice Tottenham striker to undisputed leading man after the departures of Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe. He is the leading English goalscorer in the Barclays Premier League, although he may note that he held that accolade after the 2005-06 campaign with Charlton Athletic, but did not go to the World Cup finals that summer.

Bent claims that Harry Redknapp has revived his career, and, given that the Tottenham manager achieved something similar at Portsmouth with two other English strikers in Defoe and, to a lesser extent, Peter Crouch - not to mention Glen Johnson and David James elsewhere on the pitch - he should be among the first names on the FA's Christmas card list.

“Harry is showing more belief in me than Juande [Ramos, Redknapp's predecessor] did and I am starting to repay that,” Bent said. “No disrespect to Ramos, but under him things were a bit too particular, whereas Harry has come in and we are all relaxed.”

Perhaps Wayne Rooney could do with relaxing after hitting a barren spell. A firm favourite with Capello, having started all eight internationals for which he has been available, the Manchester United forward has not managed a goal in five matches after scoring nine in the previous seven for club and country, continuing his penchant for collecting goals in clusters.

Rooney surely remains in Capello's first XI for competitive games, but the Italian's attendance at Craven Cottage to watch Fulham face Newcastle United on Sunday will have given him food for thought over his selection for next week's friendly. While Michael Owen missed a simple chance for the away side, having appeared as a substitute, Andrew Johnson supplied one goal and won the penalty from which Danny Murphy scored in a 2-1 win.

Johnson, who left Everton for Fulham in the summer, believes he could justify a return to the England squad after a spell on the outside. “For 3 years I was in squads, so I haven't changed over a year,” he said. “It was down to a lack of playing last year, but coming to Fulham has given me that edge again that comes with playing week in, week out. I've been enjoying my football in the last few games and it shows. All I can do is score goals.”

Defoe has scored goals aplenty this season, his latest a penalty away to Sunderland at the weekend taking his season's tally to eight for Portsmouth in addition to his strike for England against Kazakhstan last month.

He should have hope of starting the match in Berlin, having made the XI in four of Capello's nine games in charge.

Gabriel Agbonlahor, of Aston Villa, may also wonder whether Capello's experimentation will extend to awarding him a first England cap, but, among those yet to receive the manager's call, Bent will be the most optimistic.