England U17s will be looking to qualify for the 2010 UEFA European Championships when they host the last stage of qualifying at Sixfields in March and April.

Only the group winners are guaranteed a place in Lichtenstein at this year's finals and England will have to finish ahead of Sweden, Slovakia and Malta if they're to make it through to the tournament in May.

England U17s Head Coach, John Peacock is already piecing together scouting plans as England countdown to their first game against Sweden on 27 March.

"The Scandinavian sides always take these tournaments seriously so it goes without saying that Sweden will be professional and well organised," he said.

"The first game of any tournament is so important. We need to get off to a good start and take some momentum into the Malta and Slovakia games as we've all got high hopes of reaching Lichtenstein later this year."

"Malta will be delighted to reach this stage of qualifying as they came through as one of the best third-placed teams in the preliminary round so it's a big deal for them to get this far while Slovakian football is on a high having reached the senior World Cup for the first time," said Peacock who led England to the European Championship Finals in Germany last year.

Peacock, who'll take his young charges to the annual round-robin Algarve competition next week, is hoping to take a full strength squad into next month's Euro qualifying tournament: "The team is well supported by the clubs as they realise that international experience is great for a player's development.

"We'll use the Algarve competition to have a look at a few new players so I'm optimistic that we'll have a very strong line-up for this tournament."

MATCHES AT SIXFIELDS

Saturday 27th March 3pm England v Sweden
Monday 29th March 3pm Sweden v Slovakia
Thursday 1st April 7pm Slovakia v England

Tickets will be available from Sixfields shortly.