Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard is confident he will finally put 14 months of injury frustration with England behind him after declaring himself fit for Saturday's World Cup qualifier with Finland at Anfield.

The 20-year-old, who has been constantly troubled by a back-related problem, admitted ''I am dying to put an England shirt on again.''

Gerrard was first called up for the senior squad by Kevin Keegan for the friendly international with Argentina at Wembley in February 1999 but that signalled the start of a succession of enforced withdrawals because of the back complaint.

He eventually made his debut against the Ukraine at Wembley in May and featured as a substitute in the Euro 2000 encounter with Germany in Charleroi.

But ten times Gerrard has been forced to pull out of England squads with the injury he believes was partly caused by playing too much football in his formative years from 14 to 16.

Now he is optimistic of eventually winning his battle to cure the problem via specialised treatment in France and a diet which involves no alcohol or fatty foods.

That scenario, he claims, will happen ''sooner rather than later'' and Gerrard came through a training session with England at their Carden Park headquarters with no ill effect yesterday.

Now he is raring to go on his home turf against the Finns as England look to kick start their qualifying campaign into action after collecting only one point from their first two matches.

Gerrard said: ''I'm fit and available for selection at the weekend. By only playing 35 minutes for Liverpool on Sunday I feel quite fresh. I had a warm-up with the physios today and took part in a couple of seven-a-side matches but I'll be going 100 per cent tomorrow in training.

''The talk about fitness does bore me sometimes because no one is more frustrated than myself.

''It's particularly annoying to miss all those internationals because I know I would have played some part in them but I'm hoping I'll play some part at Anfield. That will be special.

''All my problems in the past have been because of my posture and I've needed a lot of immobilisation, but things are improving a lot.

''I'll carry on seeing this specialist in France and I believe I will be perfect soon.

"It's impossible to give a date but if I keep improving the way I am then I think it will be sooner rather than later."