Robson impressed by Beattie

Bobby Robson backed recent calls for James Beattie to be rewarded for his recent resurgence with an England call-up.

In front of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, Southampton striker Beattie failed to add to his tally of 11 goals in eight games in the 1-1 draw with Newcastle at the St Mary’s Stadium.

But Southampton boss Gordon Strachan felt Beattie produced his “best all-round performance as a footballer”.

Newcastle manager Robson was also full of praise for the 24-year-old.

After Chris Marsden’s 52nd-minute equaliser had cancelled out a marvellous curled opener from Craig Bellamy, Robson said of Beattie: “He’s a bustling, energetic, strong, typical centre-forward.

“His hold-up play has become much better this season, which is important, and it looks as though he’s able to take a chance now, which maybe last year he used to miss.

“The only way to find out if a player is ready is to put him in. If Eriksson is not happy with his current strike force then put him in. I’m not telling Sven to pick him, but that’s the only way to find out.”

Another player tipped for an England berth is Everton goalkeeper Richard Wright, who showed signs in the 2-1 Goodison Park victory over Blackburn he is again approaching his best.

Wayne Rooney again stole the headlines as a shot off the post set up old Rover Lee Carsley for the equaliser after Andy Cole had opened the scoring, before the rising young star then netted his third winner of the season.

But it was a breathtaking save from Wright which ended Everton’s three-match losing streak to cap a fine display which had manager David Moyes conceding: “He’s showing signs of the quality he possessed when he was being touted a couple of years ago.

“I’ve got to say I’m always hard on him because I think he should be better than he is. But he is working really hard to reinstate his reputation to where it should be.

“But he’s at a team who are fourth top in the league, he’s English and a goalkeeper, so he cannot be too far away from it.”

With Arsenal held to a 1-1 draw at Spurs, Chelsea could have today been sitting on top of the Premiership, but were forced to settle for a point from a draw at Middlesbrough.

John Terry grabbed a scrambled equaliser after Geremi had given Boro the lead with a delightful free-kick.

Geremi has warned Blues manager Claudio Ranieri his side face an uphill battle if they are to win their first top-flight title for 48 years.

“They are quite a big team in England, so we have a huge motivation to play against them. We tried to do that on Saturday and we almost won,” said Geremi.

“There are a lot of tough games in England and a lot of big teams who can win the title. It’s not just Chelsea, there’s Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle and many others.”

Alex Ferguson’s side appear the team most likely to lift the crown in May as United have won seven matches on the trot, with four successive clean sheets, culminating in a comfortable 3-0 victory over rock-bottom West Ham at Old Trafford.

Goalkeeper David James, beaten by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Juan Sebastian Veron and an own goal from Sebastian Schemmel, is not hedging his bets.

He said: “They are looking very good. They looked better than Arsenal the other week, and I’m not a betting man but if I were I would put it on red.”

The blue half of Manchester salvaged a point from a 2-2 draw at Charlton courtesy of a Marc-Vivien Foe double late on after a Jason Euell penalty and Claus Jensen had seemingly clinched victory.

City boss Kevin Keegan still has a few months to decide to buy Foe, who like fellow Cameroonian Geremi is on a season-long loan, this time from Lyon.

Keegan said: “I have got to decide in March, but he won’t be cheap.

“He’s been playing in the holding position, but there is a bit more to him than that. He’s shown that in the last two games and given an extra dimension to our play.”