Spurs captain has managed 18 games this season
Doubts over Gareth Barry's involvement due to ankle sprain

Fabio Capello will select Ledley King in his provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup finals after the Tottenham Hotspur defender's recent outstanding form convinced the England manager to gamble on his fitness.

King, capped 19 times, has not represented his country since appearing against Estonia in the summer of 2007 and his only previous call-up under Capello, for the friendly against Slovakia some 14 months ago, saw him assessed by the England medical staff and released some 24 hours later. He has managed only 18 Premier League starts this term, plagued as he is by a chronic knee complaint, but has displayed enough class in Spurs' recent surge into fourth place to win over the national coaching staff.

There have been only four club appearances since the end of February yet King's ability to play against Bolton last Saturday and then against Manchester City on Wednesday was deemed hugely encouraging. The 29-year-old had previously struggled to play twice in a week, with his knee swelling up after matches to restrict his training, yet successive performances for Spurs have seen him securely into the Italian's provisional party, to be named at Wembley next Tuesday.

Capello will take that squad to Austria for a training camp, at altitude, with friendlies against Mexico and Japan to come before he slims the group down to his 23 for the finals, to be named on 1 June. King's inclusion eases some of the national manager's concerns at centre-half, with Capello acutely aware of Rio Ferdinand's toils this season with back and related groin problems. Those have restricted England's recently appointed captain to only 11 Premier League starts all campaign, though he will be selected fitness permitting.

Neither Manchester City's Joleon Lescott, who has been troubled by a hamstring problem and has not played since mid-March, nor Wes Brown – absent from Manchester United's line-up for two months with a broken metatarsal – is expected to be included in the provisional squad, leaving Capello and the general manager, Franco Baldini, considering their available options ahead of next week's announcement.

They are aware of the form of the Tottenham centre-half Michael Dawson, who has yet to be capped, and Everton's Phil Jagielka, with Capello due to attend Arsenal's final league game of the season against Fulham on Sunday to witness Sol Campbell's late-season resurgence first-hand. The England coach will also consider contacting the Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, 32, to determine whether he can yet be persuaded out of self-imposed international retirement to feature in South Africa.

Carragher won his 34th and final cap in the 1-1 friendly against Brazil in the summer of 2007 before quitting, but he has been a consistent performer for Liverpool and would offer Capello the option of featuring at full-back if required – a quality that would be of greater significance in Brown's anticipated absence.

The defender, like United's Paul Scholes, was sounded out by Baldini upon the current managerial team's appointment some 17 months ago and reiterated his unavailability at the time, though that resolve could now be tested again.

The England team doctor is currently in the process of assessing all those players who have been troubled by injury ahead of submitting a report to Capello after the weekend. There are concerns at present over Gareth Barry, who sprained his right ankle in City's defeat to Spurs on Wednesday and will visit a specialist today to determine the extent of the damage amid fears the midfielder could be absent for up to three weeks. Reports last night suggested that Barry could miss out on the World Cup finals after the England medical staff were alerted to the possibility that the injury could be worse than first feared. However, Barry will not know the extent on the problem until a full diagnosis is given today.