Everton defender Phil Jagielka hopeful of England selection

Everton defender Phil Jagielka is hopeful his strong finish to the season will have sent the right message to new England manager Roy Hodgson ahead of this summer's European Championships.

The 29-year-old has shown no ill-effects from the January knee injury which sidelined him for two months.

As Hodgson, appointed as national team boss last week, has yet to select a squad, Jagielka admits he hopes he has done enough to warrant inclusion for Euro 2012.

"We don't know what the squad is yet and the Euros are just around the corner. It makes it interesting," he said.

"You've got to keep going to the end of the season, not take your foot off the gas, and give Roy Hodgson the headache of who's going to go in his squad.

"Hopefully I've played well enough in the last few weeks to at least be in with a shout."

Jagielka also insists Hodgson's disappointing spell on Merseyside with Liverpool should not be held against him.

"I think the appointment is really good. We needed it doing as soon as possible," he told evertontv.

"Look at his CV, look at the successes he's had. Okay he didn't have the best of times at Liverpool but one bad experience doesn't make him a bad coach or a bad manager.

"There weren't too many people out there who could have taken the job but the FA have gone with Roy and time will tell.

"We've not done amazingly well in the championships in the past 40 years or whatever, so hopefully Roy will do as well as he can and the boys can do well for him."

PA