FABRICE MUAMBA is set to earn his eighth cap for England U21s in Tuesday's international friendly against Slovenia.

Fresh from his fantastic home debut at the weekend, the £5m recruit from Birmingham City is likely to line-up in the centre of midfield at Hull's KC Stadium.

Manager Stuart Pearce has picked an experienced squad as the hosts look to prepare for next month's European Qualifier against Portugal with a forceful and morale-boosting display on Humberside.

And the former Manchester City boss has encouraged his players, Muamba included, to make the most of the opportunity by using the outing against Slovenia to catch national team coach Fabio Capello's eye.

Pearce told the official FA website: "As the manager, I want to be able to go away from here and meet up with the seniors and say to Fabio that at least four or five players, perhaps even more, have done extremely well within the team set-up.

"It's a doubled-edged sword if you like; they need to perform here for me and we need to drive this team forward, but it's also important that we can come away from any given game and individually the players have nudged Fabio's arm if you like and he thinks they are good enough for his squad."

Bolton supporters can check how Fabrice performs by watching full live coverage on Setanta Sports 1. The programme begins at 7.30pm with kick-off following at 7.45pm.