Sam Allardyce: "I had Andy as a young man at Newcastle when I was there, and you could see the raw talent.
"They love a number nine there and it's a big ask to live up to the expectation but he's brave, he's fearless and he has exceptionally good ability, particularly aerially - as we saw against Arsenal.
"Few players could score goals of that type today and that's why he's such an exciting player.
"He's the sort of centre-forward that Fabio Capello likes - a big man up front.
"In the beginning it was Emile Heskey and we all know the one thing Emile couldn't give the England side was goals. He could make a lot of goals and could create opportunities but you had to rely on other players scoring.
"Then Peter Crouch has been tried, and I think Andy Carroll is emerging now and on the back of a very good start to the Barclays Premier League - and six goals to boot - he deserves to be included in a friendly international. I think Fabio should let the lad have a little taste of what it's like at that level.
"I can cast my mind back to Michael Ricketts getting a chance when I was at Bolton. He played in Holland for England for half a game and let that go to his head and his career almost evaporated from that day on.
"So it can be a very dangerous thing as well as a very, very good thing and Andy and everybody around him has to manage that if he gets the call that he deserves."