Double trouble joy

Reasons to be cheerful: not only did Michael Owen play another game without suffering any adverse reaction last night, but he also scored twice as England sauntered to a 3-0 win over Russia which against all expectations proved nearly as easy as Saturday's stroll in the park against Israel.

Owen's first was an opportunist finish, as he reacted with lightning speed to trap a ball that evaded the heads of players right in front of him and then fire in off the post. His second was a real corker, though; having pulled off his marker, he was found by Emile Heskey's superb flicked header and calmly lofted a powerful volley into the roof of the net from just inside the area. And then, to round things off, his clever pass put Rio Ferdinand in for the third goal towards the end.

So it looks as though we'll have got back a player who's both very nearly fully fit and in lethal goalscoring form - it's now five in four games for club and country. If I was a Derby defender, having conceded six on Owen's old stamping ground Anfield in my last outing, I'd be very worried about the prospect of facing him on Monday night...