By Paul Brown

Paul Merson believes Ashley Young will be a dream for the likes of Wayne Rooney, Bobby Zamora and Carlton Cole against Hungary this evening - as he delivers from the wing time and time again.

Merson is a firm admirer of the claret and blue wideman and believes his ability to provide a succession of crosses is terrific.

He insists his first time deliveries will be perfect tonight as England look to get back on track in a friendly at Wembley prior to the European Championship qualifiers.

He said: "I can't speak highly enough of Ashley.

"He's different class. I can't believe he didn't make the World Cup squad with England.

"What I love about him is he runs with pace and then slows down and delivers a good cross. He has tremendous attributes. And he gets the ball into the box.

"He doesn't dilly-dally about it. He doesn't do 20 or 30 step-overs and then cross it. He gets down the wing, cuts in and then whips it in.

"He's a dream for Carew and Heskey with Villa and it'll be the same for England. That's what he's good at.

"What I want to see him do is what he did against Blackburn at the end of the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final. He ran, beat someone and then slammed it home. I'd love to see him do more of that too.

"He won the PFA Young Player of the Year award two seasons ago and that is one of the major accolades in the game, with every professional footballer voting that you're the best at that age.

"He should take confidence from that. I'm just a big fan.

"In terms of missing the World Cup he'll be gutted but he's still young - he's only in his early 20s - so he's got another couple of World Cups in him."