JOHAN Elmander has warned England to prepare for a scrap when they face the Swedes in Kiev tomorrow night.

The former Wanderers striker insists his team have a point to prove after losing their Group D opener to co-hosts Ukraine.

Sweden face potential elimination from the tournament should they fail again and France pick up maximum points.

Elmander was a late entrant into the action on Monday evening and wasted a glorious chance to secure a point by lashing a shot over the bar with seconds remaining. But the 31-year-old, still the Whites’ record signing at £8.2million, reckons it will be a different prospect against familiar foes.

“We like to play against England teams,” said the hard-working striker, who now plays for Galatasaray in Turkey.

“We’ve been watching the England team for a long, long time and we like to play against you guys. We also like to fight, which is what English football is all about – to fight – and that suits us very well.”

England have won just once against Sweden since 1968 and have never beaten them at a major tournament.

Elmander played 90 minutes at Wembley in November in a 1-0 defeat but has been struggling with an ankle injury and may have to be content with a place on the bench this time around.

Regardless, the former Toulouse front man believes his own side must raise their game.

“I didn’t see much of England’s draw with France, because we had our own game and were preparing for that,” he said.

“I only saw the first 10 minutes or so and, on that basis, France were the better team, so it's difficult to say how England performed.

“But England have a good team, a good squad and they are always hard to play against. So we know it's going to be a difficult game.

“We will have to score when we get chances and we must also be more compact and play together as a team.

“We did play like a team at times against Ukraine, but we will need to do that more against England.”