SAM Allardyce last night warned England supporters not to expect Michael Owen to ride to his country's rescue in next month's crucial European Championship qualifiers with Israel and Russia.

With Peter Crouch suspended for the Israel game on September 8, and Wayne Rooney ruled out for up two months after breaking a metatarsal on the opening weekend of the season, Owen has emerged as England's likeliest match-winner ahead of a Wembley double-header that could determine the fate of embattled national coach Steve McClaren.

The Newcastle striker, who has played in two reserve games this week, will be named amongst the substitutes for tomorrow's Premier League home game with Aston Villa.

He is also expected to feature in next Wednesday's international friendly with Germany, a game that could mark his first senior start since June's Euro 2008 qualifying win in Estonia.

McClaren has already spoken of his desire to name Owen in his starting line-up next month, but while Allardyce has been delighted with the 27-year-old's recovery from a thigh injury, he has warned the England boss not to expect miracles from a player who has made just 14 domestic appearances in the last two years.

"It would be unfair to put too much pressure on Michael at the moment," said the Magpies manager, who saw Kieron Dyer finally complete a £7m move to West Ham yesterday. "That's from my point of view, and from England's point of view as well.

"He's still short of match practice. Michael Owen is Michael Owen - he's a goalscorer - but we wouldn't say that he's 100 per cent fit. We organised two games for him this week because he still needs to catch up the others when it comes to match fitness."

Nevertheless, Allardyce will not prevent McClaren from naming Owen in his squad for next week's friendly provided the striker comes through tomorrow's game unscathed.

The pair have discussed Owen's recovery at length over recent weeks, and are expected to hold another telephone conversation on Saturday night.

Other managers might have preferred to keep the former Liverpool forward away from the rigours of a Wembley international, but Allardyce feels his involvement against Germany could be of considerable benefit to the Magpies.

"I will speak to Steve about next week's game after the weekend," he confirmed. "We will have a better view of it then.

"I've spoken to Steve a few times, and Michael's obviously a bit more in the forefront now after Rooney got injured.

"Steve has to get ready for the qualifiers, but this friendly could also be a good exercise for Michael Owen and Newcastle United."

While Newcastle supporters will be alarmed at the prospect of Owen starting for England before he has kicked off a game with the Magpies, they can at least console themselves in the knowledge that his comeback has been carefully planned.

Former United boss Glenn Roeder allowed Owen to dictate the pace of his previous recovery, claiming that an injured player was the most reliable judge of his own fitness.

Allardyce, a devotee of science and technology, has adopted a different tack, insisting that footballers cannot be relied upon for an unbiased judgement.

"I have to stop the players being impatient when they've been injured," he explained. "As soon as they come back and take part in a training session or play in a reserve game, they say they're ready.

"They're footballers, but I'm a manager. The sports scientists and medical people are the experts and we take their judgement rather than the player's. Or at least I do."

"But we feel the teams are equally matched.

"With a full house it's going to be a similar atmosphere to a Test match. I'm thoroughly looking forward to it and want to put a big performance in.

"But I don't feel under pressure coming back into this Durham side because everyone knows his role and it's a good team with a lot of match-winners."

Durham will leave for Lord's today and are likely to take a squad of 15. If they decide to play an extra batsman, a Harmison could still feature as Steve's 21-year-old brother, Ben, has been batting consistently well and his medium pace bowling is also improving.

Gordon Muchall, Garry Park and Will Smith are also contenders, although Smith's recent absence from both forms of the game makes him the outsider, despite missing only one of the Friends Provident group games.

Harmison senior's latest injury might mean an early recall for Mark Davies, who has been loaned to Nottinghamshire for a month.

Durham's only game next week is the NatWest Pro40 League match against Somerset at Taunton, which has been put back four days to Thursday as Sunday is the reserve day for the Friends Provident final.

So Davies could play at Trent Bridge in Nottinghamshire's county championship division two game against Northamptonshire starting next Wednesday, but there is a good chance Durham would want him back a week later for the four-day match against Worcestershire.