If everything goes to plan for England over the coming week, the Three Lions will book their place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.
The Three Lions host Slovenia and travel to Lithuania knowing one point from their final two Group E qualifiers will book their passage to Russia.
For Aaron Cresswell, the fixtures – and training sessions before and in-between – present the West Ham United left-back with another opportunity to impress Gareth Southgate, with the target of securing his own spot at next summer’s finals.
It would be nice to make my competitive debut in one of the two remaining qualifiers and that’s the plan
Aaron Cresswell
“I’m going away again and we’ve got a job to do and hopefully we can qualify,” said the No3, who has helped the Hammers keep clean sheets in three of their last four Premier League matches. “We’ve only got to get one point more and we’ll have got the job done.
“It would be nice to make my competitive debut in one of the two remaining qualifiers and that’s the plan, but the main aim is to qualify and whoever plays, I’m sure we can do that.
“We’ve got two winnable games and, as I say, hopefully we can do that and then look forward to the World Cup next year.”
Cresswell joined up with England at St George’s Park on Monday in a positive frame of mind after helping the Hammers to a 1-0 Premier League win over Swansea City on Saturday.
“That was another thing I’d been saying before the game, that there is nothing worse than going into an international break, whether you are going away or staying back to train, than thinking about the last game if you haven’t won it,” he confirmed.
“To be fair, we had a bad start to the season and we haven’t been at our best, so I would have taken the three points all day long. We know it wasn’t pretty and wasn’t good enough, but three points were the main thing.
“For us, moving forward, especially with the international break and no games for two weeks, to get the three points was massive and it was a great relief to see the goal go in at the end.”
Playing as part of a back four for the first time since the 3-0 defeat at Newcastle United in August, Cresswell produced a solid display alongside Jose Fonte, Winston Reid and Pablo Zabaleta, restricting Swansea to just one shot on target and six goal attempts in the entire 90 minutes.
“There weren’t many clear-cut chances and it was a strange game at times, but we’ve been down in the relegation zone and I know there are 30-odd games left to play, but for us to get the three points was massive, especially going into a two-week break, to relieve that pressure on everyone for the foreseeable future” he concluded.
*For a full guide to West Ham United's international call-ups and where you can catch them in action, click here.