Injury-depleted England may not have such an easy time extending its perfect European Championship qualifying record when it hosts Montenegro for the first time, with Group G's surprise team having opened with three straight victories.
Darren Bent became the latest England striker to be ruled out of Tuesday's match at Wembley Stadium after sustaining a groin injury in the final training session on Monday.
Fabio Capello was already without Jermain Defoe, who scored a hat trick against Bulgaria before being injured in the next win over Switzerland, while Wayne Rooney is beset by personal problems and a lack of form.
John Terry has also been ruled out of Tuesday's match at Wembley Stadium with a back injury, while fellow center back Phil Jagielka was forced to withdraw with a hamstring injury.
That could enable Rio Ferdinand to reclaim his starting spot - he has already reclaimed the captaincy from Steven Gerrard - having just returned to action following the injury the Manchester United defender sustained on the eve of the World Cup in June.
Capello at least has Joe Hart fit. The Manchester City goalkeeper has been pivotal to England's perfect start, quickly establishing himself as the solution to England's perceived shortcomings between the posts.
Hart has conceded just twice in three winning matches since a friendly last month against Hungary.
"I'm well aware that (the pressure) is there," Hart said. "People build you up and as soon as anything does go slightly wrong then they're hard on you.
"But that's the nature of the game and if I want to be at the top level then I think you've just got to be prepared for things like that, and it's another thing you need to work on and another thing you need to be good at is taking criticism."
Montenegro, which is playing in European Championship qualifying for the first time as an independent nation, has risen from 119th to 40th in FIFA's rankings since splitting from Serbia in 2006.
And the Adriatic nation has won all three qualifiers 1-0 to top Group G ahead of England, which has played a game less.
"We are both pushing each other and it is going to be an intense affair," Hart said.
Hart's big challenge will be thwarting Mirko Vucinic, the Roma striker who is Montenegro's only player to feature for a top European side.
"He was very dangerous (in Friday's win over Switzerland) and showed his quality and he can score against anyone," Montenegro coach Zlatko Kranjcar said.
In fact, the 27-year-old Vucinic has scored 11 games in 22 matches for the team.
"After the draw was made, nobody would believe we could arrive at Wembley with nine points, but we believe that we can beat England and that would be a stunning result all over Europe," he was quoted as saying in The Sun newspaper. "But with the way we have started, I think we can win the game. If so we will then be in control of the qualifying campaign and England will be scrabbling around for points.
"England are massive favorites but we are super confident that we can win. We are a young side with a lot of ambition and we are not troubled by failure."
