THE 'Kevin Phillips for England' bandwagon is picking up pace - maybe Sven will be the next to jump on board.

Another two goals against Manchester City took Phillips' impressive recent strike rate to ten goals in 12 games.

On the south coast there has been whispered talks of a possible England call-up even before the goals came, such has been the quality of his all-round displays.

But now he's scoring for fun as well there seems to be little argument against his inclusion.

The main problem Phillips faces is that there are no more friendly squads to be picked before Euro 2004.

Sven Goran Eriksson's plan is to pick teams for his final warm-up matches before this summer's championship in Portugal from within the squad that will travel.

As such, with no friendly in which to make his mark, it is still something of a long-shot that Phillips will make it.

But he should.

Assuming Sven takes five strikers we can safely predict that three of those will be Michael Owen, Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney.

There's not much point in arguing as to the rights and wrongs of those three as they'll go.

So that leaves Phillips competing for one of the two remaining places.

The front-runners appear to be Darius Vassell, Alan Smith and Jermaine Defoe.

With those three all being young strikers with decent but not scintillating form it strengthens Phillips' case still further.

The one thing that jumps out at you when you see the names of the strikers is the lack of experience, of a senior pro.

The nearest you get is Owen and Heskey because, although young, they've played a lot of top level football.

At some stage in the tournament you are going to need an old and wise head to hold up the ball and to lead the line, to act as a calming influence, to defend a lead.

Youthful exuberance has it's place but what happens when you want something a bit different?

With the strikers Sven might pick it's not there - but Phillips offers exactly that.

And not only that but goals and lots of them right now.

I'm a great believer in taking a solid and settled squad along with a few players who are just bang in form.

Although Phillips is good enough to play international football, to me when you select form players it doesn't matter if you don't think they're very good.

You're not looking for somebody to have a long international career, but if players are in form and things are happening for them at Premier League level then they tend to have the confidence and belief to take that on a stage further, even if it's only temporary.

Again, Phillips is the form man.

Eriksson said when Phillips first arrived at Saints that he was an admirer and hoped he'd get back to top form so he could pick him - well Sven, now's your chance.

If you're going to take a surprise name don't take some middle of the road player in an average team, make it Phillips.

In amongst all this talk it's worth sparing a thought for James Beattie.

The reason for not talking about him is that only because Sven just doesn't seem to fancy him.

Beattie is also on great form - three in three - and has scored 40 goals over this season and last - that's very impressive and few can match it.

But, even when he has been picked by Sven, it's seemed as if he's felt duty-bound to do it because of the goals rather than because he wanted to play him.

Beattie could do a job for England - I'd rather have him than Heskey. But I think for Saints the best chance of a call-up, barring injury to Heskey, lies in Phillips.

Both Saints strikers pressed their claims further with goals in an impressive victory at Man City which meant Saints came out of the tricky run of three away games with a fantastic six points.

City had the air of a nervous and worried team about them - and well they should be in their position.

Nicolas Anelka had the chance to settle the nerves when he got through on 17 minutes but put a glorious chance wide of the post.

Saints played it perfectly and got in the faces of City, causing them more anxiousness and capitalising on their fear.

Marian Pahars was restored to the left wing and offered an extra threat.

On 34 minutes he helped give Saints the lead when Rory Delap slipped the ball down the left for Pahars to sprint clear and slip in a quick left footed cross which Beattie emphatically powered into the top corner. A great goal.

City had the chance to level nine minutes into the second half but didn't reckon on a dramatic save by the feet of Antti Niemi. Seconds later it was 2-0.

Delap's long throw was flicked on by Beattie and Phillips powered home a far post header.

The introduction of Paolo Wan-chope gave City extra impetus and, when he rounded Niemi and crossed for Anelka to pull one back, it looked sure to set-up a tense finale.

But all that changed nine minutes from time when Phillips raced onto a long clearance and produced a magical finish across David James from just inside the area to seal the points and get a few more people thinking about what he could do in Portugal this summer.

Let's hope Sven is one of them.