Villa defender's England envy

Villa defender Zat Knight admits he is full of international envy - and is determined to do something about it.

Martin O'Neill's £3.5m signing finds himself stuck in the log jam of central defenders queueing behind the Rio Ferdinand-John Terry partnership which so frustrated Liverpool's Jamie Carragher he declined to be considered for future selection.

But England coach Steve McClaren admitted last week that Villa had become one of the most important clubs on his radar because of their profusion of international candidates and the 27-year-old Knight believes there is a chance for him yet to play for his country.

"Seeing the lads go away with their countries increases my hunger to get back into the England squad. It's something I want to do," he says.

"The England manager was there on Saturday and hopefully I put in a good performance. Maybe he'll send some more scouts here to keep an eye on me.

"But my first job is to do well for Villa. When Villa are doing well, hopefully that means people will be talking about me as well."

So while team mates Gareth Barry and Ashley Young focus on England's vital Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia and Russia, Knight is already looking ahead to the Villa's first match after the break.

A home clash with Manchester United gives him the perfect stage to further impress the England hierarchy as the Premiership's top domestic players continue the battle for places at next summer's finals- providing, of course, McClaren's team qualify.

"We're trying to make this place a fortress at the moment - for myself that's three clean-sheets at home in the league," he added.

"My main aim was to come here and defend well. I'm doing that and we're doing that as a team.

"We rode our luck a little bit in the second-half against West Ham and they put a lot of pressure on us, but we got what we wanted and that's the three points.

"West Ham have got some good strikers. Dean Ashton had a point to prove with the England manager at Villa Park.

"We knew we had a tough job on our hands and I thought we did really well.

"I nearly got another goal. Maybe I connected a bit too cleanly. But the main thing for me was the clean-sheet and the three points.

"If you look at the table it makes good reading for us. It's a great position to be in at this stage of the season."