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Theo Walcott ready to step in up front for England captain Wayne Rooney

Arsenal winger Theo Walcott will relish getting the chance to lead the line for England if he is picked instead of captain Wayne Rooney.

Rooney, England's record goal scorer, appears to be a major doubt for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia after missing a second successive training session because of an ankle injury.

And, while Walcott feels the Manchester United striker might still recover in time to feature at Wembley, he believes the fans would be happy to see him take Rooney's place for the night.

"Being Wayne he always wants to represent his country," the Arsenal player told a news conference.

"If he can't -- and he's obviously got a little knock, we'll know tomorrow if he's able to train -- the manager will make the decision. Playing there [up front] for England, that's what I want to do.

"You want to represent your country and I know everyone would like to see me up front, but whether it's on the left or right... there's an opportunity there definitely."

Walcott is more than willing to put an arm around Tottenham teenager Dele Alli, who has been called up for the first time after impressing Roy Hodgson with his early-season performances for Spurs.

It is nine years since Walcott was a surprise inclusion in the 2006 World Cup squad and he knows all too well what it feels like to be involved with the national side from a young age.

Walcott said of Alli: "Seeing him for the first time in the flesh, he's a big lad. He's very classy on the ball and he's only 19 so he's got a long England career ahead of him, and with Tottenham as well.

"He's in the spotlight straight away. I'm always there for him as I obviously was in the England squad at the early age of 17. I've been through it so he's always got plenty of people here to talk to.

"Looking at him, he's the sort of player who'd be able to deal with anything."

Goalkeeper Joe Hart also predicted a bright future for attacking midfielder Alli, who joined Spurs from MK Dons in the winter transfer window.

"He's really pushed on," he said. "He had a good season last season and Tottenham look like they've given him confidence by putting him in their very good side. It's good to get him in and he's going to be in and around the England squad for a very long time."

The Manchester City shot-stopper does not believe beating Estonia and Lithuania to register 10 wins from 10 games in Group E is an achievement in itself, and is instead focused on chasing glory in France.

He said: "I think crowning it all would be winning the tournament but these are two games we're going to look to win, like we've looked to win all the games so far.

"We've accomplished that so these are two more games in which we're going to work on playing in the way we want to play, and then we move on."

When pushed to concede that racking up 10 qualifying wins would be a commendable feat, Hart added: "I don't see it being that great an achievement unless we go on and do well in the tournament in the summer."