Sven: Ljungberg threat scares me

Sven-Goran Eriksson has admitted he is scared by the form of Sweden's World Cup danger man Freddie Ljungberg.

The Arsenal midfielder faces England in both countries' first match at the World Cup finals in Saitama on 2 June.

He scored a sensational goal in the FA Cup Final on Saturday and has now scored an amazing 17 goals for his club this season.

Eriksson's No2, Tord Grip, revealed the England coach's concerns.

He admitted: "After watching his performance in the FA Cup Final, Sven is a little scared about Freddie.

"We will have to be careful with him at the World Cup - although we already knew he would be a threat anyway."

At the weekend Eriksson also expressed his fears at the prospect of facing the inconsistent Nigerians.

The danger presented by Ljungberg has also been endorsed by Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, who lost out to the Gunners in the Cardiff showdown after putting in an impressive display that gives him a chance of making Eriksson's squad.

Lampard said: "At the moment Freddie Ljungberg is the best player in the whole country.

"He makes clinical runs and that finish in the Cup Final was tremendous.

"He is going to be a real threat to England in the World Cup finals. Give Freddie a sight of goal and he will make you pay.

"It's going to be hard keeping him quiet the kind of form he's in at the moment.

"He's so dangerous because he times his runs to perfection and when he gets in a position to shoot, he's lethal as he proved by scoring the second goal against us on Saturday.

"How do you stop him? With difficulty because he makes such clever runs and if one or two don't come off, he just goes on making them until he gets some joy.

"The best way of playing against him is to try and track his runs and stop him getting into a position where he can pull the trigger because he is lethal at the moment.

"It's a problem for England, but we have players who can deal with it."

Meanwhile there was fresh speculation today that midfielder Patrick Vieira will leave Highbury for Real Madrid this summer in a £30 million move.

The France international is at present in talks with Arsenal about a one-year extension to his contract which has two years to run.