England goalkeeper Joe Hart has expressed his excitement at the prospect of earning his 50th cap for the Three Lions in the upcoming international break.

The Manchester City shot-stopper is currently on 48 caps and would become the youngest goalkeeper in England history to reach the half-century should he play against both Lithuania and Italy later this month.

The 27-year-old described himself as "honoured" to be approaching the milestone and insisted that he was eager to go on and win many more caps for his country.

"I could potentially get 50 caps. I am knocking on those kind of tallies at the moment which is exciting," Hart told reporters.

"I am honoured to play every single game I have done for England and for it to be 48 so far is fantastic but I just want to keep playing. I don't ever see any end. I don't want there to be an end. You can't finish one game and think: 'that is me sorted', I want to keep going, I keep preparing for games and hopefully I keep playing in them.

"I have got a lot of hard work to do to keep my place and I am willing to do that. I'm a soldier, I'm a player. I just want to play as much as I can for my team and for my country and that's all I can put my focus on right now."

England's record appearance-maker Peter Shilton was 33 when he reached 50 caps for the Three Lions, while David Seaman, Gordon Banks, David James and Ray Clemence were all also above the age of 30.