Robson's plastic pitch fears for England

ENGLAND legend Bryan Robson has warned Steve McLaren's side to expect trouble when they continue their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign on an artificial pitch in Russia later today.

The Sheffield United manager, who won 90 senior caps for his country, fully expects his country to qualify for next year's finals.

But he believes the artificial surface at Moscow's Luzhniki Olympic Arena has left the outcome of this afternoon's game hanging in the balance.

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England beat Russia 3-0 at Wembley last month to consolidate second position behind leaders Croatia in Group E.

But Robson said: "Make no mistake that pitch is going to make things difficult.

"I'm sure the lads will go through but something like this can be a great leveller.

"Synthetic surfaces are horrible to play on because they make it so hard to read the game and it seems as if every one is different.

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"We had a few of them over here a while back at Oldham, QPR and Preston but they quickly seemed to go out of fashion.

"It's hard enough going over to Russia as it is but we are still capable of winning the game and I'm sure everything will go well."

Robson, who captained England 65 times during an illustrious international career which took him to three World Cup Finals, faced the former Soviet Union twice as a player.