Roy Hodgson to go easy on Manchester United players

England manager Roy Hodgson has insisted that he will not push his Manchester United players too hard against Brazil on Wednesday.

United's Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Chris Smalling have all been included in the Three Lions squad for the clash with the South Americans, and will be hoping to play a part at Wembley.

However, Hodgson is aware of Red Devils' boss Sir Alex Ferguson's wishes ahead of a daunting upcoming fixture list for the club.

"I am aware that Manchester United are playing an important Champions League game," said Hodgson. "I haven't spoken to Sir Alex Ferguson but I don't need to. I was a club manager myself and it's pretty obvious Alex would like me to look after his players.

"I appreciate the way these top-class managers have made sure we have full access to the players for the qualifying games. It's up to me to keep in mind what's going on in their heads.

"This is a friendly, a very important one, and we want to win it. But I don't want to do that at the expense of players missing important games and their managers being reluctant to release them in future."

England host Brazil in a friendly at Wembley on Wednesday night.