Coach Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko believes Ukraine must be at their best against England even though Fabio Capello's side already have a World Cup ticket.

The hosts are still in the hunt for second spot in Group Six, trailing Croatia by two points with a game in hand.

But, with Croatia expected to take maximum points from their final game against Kazakhstan, Mykhaylychenko is aware of the need for maximum points in Dnipropetrovsk.

"We're approaching an extremely tough match and we shouldn't comfort ourselves with the fact our opponents have already done their job," he said. "On Saturday we have to rely on ourselves."

Injuries to Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Andriy Rusol and the suspension of right-back Vitaliy Mandzyuk leave Mykhaylychenko relying on a much-changed defence, which could see debuts for Dynamo Kiev's Yevgen Khacheridi Shakhtar Donetsk's Rakitskiy Yaroslav.

Wayne Rooney feels strike partner Emile Heskey has a key role to play in England's bid to complete a perfect 10 wins in qualifying.

Heskey has been criticised in many quarters for his lack of goals - his 56 caps have yielded just seven, only one more than defender John Terry has notched in the same number of games.

But Rooney said: "I love playing up front with Emile.

"Obviously he has been criticised about his goalscoring but what he brings to the team is different. It is great to play off him."

Belarus host Kazakhstan in the group's other game on Saturday, with little to play for other than pride.

With that in mind, home coach Bernd Stange has opted to experiment with his line-up, leaving out VfB Stuttgart star Alexander Hleb, brother Vyacheslav and BATE Borisov midfielder Igor Stasevich.

The two sides met in April, with Belarus winning 5-1 in Almaty despite trailing at half-time, a result which saw Kazakhstan coach Bernd Storck fume: "We do well until half-time and after that no good. The players are all flat on their backs. It's unbelievable. We lost four goals in 10 minutes."

Storck will choose from a full-strength squad as his side, who have gained their only points in the group from two wins over minnows Andorra, seek revenge for that hammering.