Eriksson to check on Woodgate and Bowyer

Sven Goran Eriksson will have an immediate chance to scout out the early-season form of Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer when he watches Leeds open their Premiership campaign against Manchester City.

With Rio Ferdinand out injured and Martin Keown having reached the age of 36, the England coach will have to decide whether to call up Woodgate for England's friendly against Portugal on 7 September. He has indicated his willingness to consider picking both players this season now that their court case is behind them.

In Woodgate's case, the defender has also served the international ban imposed on him by the Football Association following his conviction for affray.

Given a free hand by the FA, Eriksson's decision will be based on form and, while Bowyer and Woodgate are not the only reasons for seeing Terry Venables' new side take on Kevin Keegan's City team, they will be prominent in his thoughts.

The encounter between sides managed by two of his England predecessors – there are now five of them in the top-flight – will also show Eriksson how two other candidates for senior promotion this season, Alan Smith and Paul Robinson, are faring.

From Elland Road, he travels to see Aston Villa take on Liverpool on Sunday and is then due at Newcastle's game against West Ham next Monday followed by Chelsea against Manchester United next Friday. In all, the Swede, who attended Sunday's Community Shield game in Cardiff, will watch matches in Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle and London in the first week of the new Premiership campaign.

Having set a frantic scouting pace last season, he is determined not to ease up before the start of England's Euro 2004 qualifying campaign. "When we went out of the World Cup, for the next few days afterwards, I was thinking 'we should have done better, we could have beaten Brazil and so on," Eriksson said. "But I also took the opportunity to relax a little. That's the good thing about being a manager of national team – you can't buy or sell players!

"When you are the manager of a club, you are on the phone every day. But as national team manager I was able to take a short break. Now I feel recharged and I'm looking forward to the season."

One report has claimed that Eriksson could find himself in conflict with Manchester United over the release of David Beckham for the friendly against Portugal. However, any confrontation is as yet theoretical and Eriksson decided against organising a friendly this month to help out Premership clubs.

He is unlikely to call up Beckham if he is patently unfit and is equally loath to ask him to play for 90 minutes if he is showing any signs of wear and tear, especially as United face Middlesbrough just four days before England take on Portugal. Speaking generally, the England coach added: "Of course, having been together for so many weeks during the World Cup, I feel as though I know the players that were in the squad very well now. It shall be good to see them again."