Kyle Walker says England need to raise their game to complete their final push towards the World Cup.
The Three Lions travel to Malta on Thursday ahead of their next qualifier with their hosts in Ta’Qali, knowing that a victory in that game and in Monday’s Wembley date with Slovakia could be enough to secure a spot in Russia next summer.
And Walker is targeting nothing less than two wins from the games, as the qualifying campaign heads into its last leg with the final pair of matches taking place in October.
“Every game is massive and we’ve got four of them coming up,” said the Manchester City right-back.
“We need to win each game but just take it one game at a time and try not to look too far into the future.
“It’s never going to be easy. When everyone plays against England they always seem to give that extra 50 per cent.
“So we have to raise our game and match that, and our quality should shine through with the players we’ve got.”
The former Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur player admits the spirit and confidence within the England squad is strong, after the group returned to work for the new season at St. George’s Park earlier this week.
And he puts that down to the atmosphere set by boss Gareth Southgate and his staff, both on and off the training pitch.
Walker added: “It’s fantastic. He’s [Southgate] very approachable, he’s been a pleasure to work with and hopefully there’s many more years to come.
“He’s shown the belief in us and got the team together to give us the confidence which we probably haven’t had in the past when we’ve let other things distract us.
“He’s given us the freedom to just go out and play so that’s credit to him and his man-management skills and hopefully we can return the favour and get the results.”
