Stuart Pearce believes his team's Under-21 European Championship match against Spain will be his toughest as manager of the young England side.

England began their campaign with an unconvincing 2-1 win against Finland on Monday and need to improve if they are to seal their place in the semi-finals with victory over the tournament favourites.

The feeder team for the Euro 2008 winners include Barcelona's Bojan Krkic and Athletic Bilbao's Javi Martinez, with the latter thought to be attracting the interest of Manchester City.

Pearce said: "We are extremely respectful of Spain across all age-groups.

"Spain are very strong and if we want to win this tournament, our next fixtures will be Spain, Germany then one of Serbia, Italy or Sweden.

"It's a very tough run-in but our opponents will also have their hands full. We have three points and we know one victory out of two games and we go through."

England relied on Micah Richards's winning goal against Finland but the Manchester City defender is a concern with a knee injury he picked up in the match.

Pearce also has a worry over out-of-sorts Arsenal winger Theo Walcott, who was substituted at half-time against Finland and may have to settle for a place on the bench in Gothenburg.

That could pave the way for starts for Fraizer Campbell and James Tomkins, who replaced Walcott and Richards on Monday.

There is likely to be a place in the starting line-up for Walcott's fellow Gunner Kieran Gibbs.

The defender says he has now banished memories of his mistake in the Champions League semi-final last month when he gifted Manchester United the first goal. Gibbs said: "I felt disappointed after that but I'm trying to forget about it now."

Pearce added: "If you're going to go under every time you give the ball away or concede a goal, you are not going to get to the top."

Chelsea's Michael Mancienne serves a one-game ban after he was sent off against Finland.

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