Fabio Capello has confirmed his intention to start the World Cup finals in South Africa with David James as his first-choice goalkeeper.

Robert Green is expected to start against Ukraine in England’s penultimate World Cup qualifying group six match this evening, with James set to return in place of Green for the game against Belarus on Wednesday.

Green has impressed in James’s absence in England’s past five matches, conceding one goal in three competitive games, but has not done enough to oust the Portsmouth goalkeeper permanently. James started the first 13 matches of Capello’s reign until undergoing shoulder surgery last summer and picking up a knee injury at the start of this season.

“I think I know who it will be,” Capello said. “I’m happy that James is here. I have to choose and will do so. I have more or less made my mind up. I followed Green and have seen a lot of his games with West Ham. When he plays with us, he’s done well.”

England have nothing at stake in a match that Ukraine need to win to leapfrog Croatia into second place in the group, but Capello is confident he has done enough to ensure that his players are still feeling under pressure. Aaron Lennon will be rewarded for his outstanding performance against Croatia last month by keeping his place on the right, Emile Heskey retains his place up front despite having started only one Barclays Premier League match for Aston Villa this season and Rio Ferdinand returns from a thigh injury.

“For me it’s not a friendly,” Capello said. “It is one of the important games for qualification. I spoke with the players and told them I will choose the best 11. I always decide to play to win and tomorrow will be the same.

“The players have been training very well, very hard, but I want to see how they play. It’s a really good test to understand what happens when we have to play and it’s not really important to win. I want to see the team play like they did in the previous games, to play with the same spirit and movement, the same style and to play to win.

“I’m putting them under pressure to win. I don’t know whether they feel that. We will see. I hope so. I don’t like to play any games without intensity and courage.”