Lee Carsley has challenged Arsenal's Emile Smith Rowe to replicate his club form at international level with the England Under-21s.
Smith Rowe has been in fine form for the Gunners this season and scored and provided an assist in their 3-1 north London derby win over Tottenham last month.
Having had to withdraw from the England Under-21s squad through injury last month, Smith Rowe has made just two appearances for Young Lions.
He was hampered by injury during the Euro 2021 disappointment in March when England failed to make it out of the group.
Now the 21-year-old is fit and firing for Arsenal, and with senior manager Gareth Southgate praising him last week, Carsley wants to see Smith Rowe make his mark for the Under-21s as they face Slovenia and Andorra during the break.
"I spoke to a lot of players about when you're building your reputation and people are talking about you that it's important that you can show that not only can you perform at your club but you can do at international level as well," said Carsley.
"These are a good level of opponent. I'm excited by not only Emile but a lot of the players, they're playing a very high level at their clubs and what's what surprised me most is their mentality.
“We expect them to be resilient when they're not playing well but we also expect them to be calm and calculated when they're doing really well so it's getting that balance in the middle and Emile seems very level headed, works very hard.
"We've made sure that we've managed his load this week because we know that was coming off the back of a lot of games and a lot of high pressure games as well.
"So we've made sure that he's well prepared and well rested for this game."
