Bobby Zamora has pleaded with Roy Hodgson to let him start against Wigan Athletic tomorrow.

The Fulham striker, laid low by a bug and a cold recently, scored a blinding goal to set the Whites on their way to victory over Wolfsburg and, with the second leg of their Europa League quarter final to come in Germany on Thursday, Hodgson might be tempted to bench his in-form frontman. Zamora, though, says he’ll ask his manager to let him start against the Latics.

I’ll have to ask the gaffer whether I’m playing but the way I look at it, it’s another game, another chance for me to score.

I want to play, I want to score goals. Our long season is beginning to take its toll and I suppose our league form is fading a bit but if we win the Europa League and finish on 42 points we’ll take that all day long.

If we lose a few and win one or two in the league, we will be happy.