LONDON (Reuters) - England head into Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel at Wembley with a serious injury crisis threatening their chances of securing a vital victory.

England will be without David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and almost certainly Owen Hargreaves for the Group E match which they must win to keep alive their chances of qualifying for next year's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

The rest of the walking wounded, who would have either been in the starting line-up or in the squad, includes Ben Foster, Ledley King, Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, Jonathan Woodgate, Wayne Bridge, Kieron Dyer and Aaron Lennon.

Liverpool striker Peter Crouch is suspended but will be available for the qualifier against Russia next week.

His club skipper Steven Gerrard is expected to play although he may need a pain-killing injection in his broken toe.

Head coach Steve McClaren has called Emile Heskey into the squad for the first time since the striker won his 43rd cap three years ago and he may partner Michael Owen in attack. England are fourth in the standings with 14 points, behind Croatia and Israel (both 17) and Russia (15), although the Israelis have played one more match.

As well as deciding on his attacking options, McClaren also has to weigh up whether to maintain his faith in first choice goalkeeper Paul Robinson or give David James his first start since May 2005.

Despite the injuries and last month's 2-1 friendly defeat by Germany at Wembley, when Robinson was criticised for a mistake that led to the equaliser, England should win on Saturday even though Israel fought for a 0-0 draw in Tel Aviv in March.

However. the Israelis are quietly confident and feel the pressure on their injury-hit opponents gives them a chance to steal a good result from a match they are expected to lose.

"If we get a victory it will be talked about for 100 years... they're under pressure and we can do it," said Israel captain Yossi Benayoun.

"You don't expect us to come to Wembley to play an open game and end up being 3-0 down after 20 minutes," he added.

In contrast to England's long injury list, Israel have only one seriously doubt, although he is a significant one.

Argentinian-born striker Roberto Colautti, Israel's top scorer with six goals in the campaign, looks like being replaced by Yaniv Katan.

With an experienced back line, Israel will rely mainly on a solid defensive performance with Dudu Aouate of Deportivo Coruna in goal behind Tal Ben Haim of Chelsea and Beitar Jerusalem's Shimon Gershon in central defence.

Arik Benado, who normally plays in central defence, will move up to a defensive midfield position, a similar role he played against England in March.

The rest of Israel's lineup is also set to rely mainly on experience with Walid Badir of Hapoel Tel Aviv, Idan Tal of Beitar Jerusalem and Liverpool's Benayoun in midfield supporting Katan and Barak Yitzhaki of Beitar up front.

Probable teams

England: Paul Robinson; Micah Richards, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry; Ashley Cole, Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole; Michael Owen, Emile Heskey.

Israel: Dudu Aouate; Yuval Shpungin, Shimon Gershon, Tal Ben Haim, Yoav Ziv; Arik Benado, Walid Badir, Idan Tal, Yossi Benayoun; Barak Yitzhaki, Yaniv Katan.