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LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson will assess the fitness of his captain David Beckham on Tuesday when the squad meet up for the first time before Saturday's European championship qualifier against Slovakia.

The Manchester United midfielder finished his club's 3-0 win over Everton on Monday suffering pain in his calf, the same injury that forced him to pull out of England's squad for their last game, a friendly against Portugal in September.

"I think I've just pulled something in the calf, and I don't think it will be much of a problem for me," Beckham was quoted as saying by British newspapers on Tuesday.

England's squad gather for the first time at their Bisham Abbey training headquarters later on Tuesday, with Eriksson due to address reporters at 0930 GMT. The squad is then due to train at 1400 GMT.

Eriksson is without Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, Liverpool's Danny Murphy and fellow midfielder Trevor Sinclair of West Ham United through injury.

Uncapped Blackburn Rovers midfielder David Thompson was named as Sinclair's replacement on Monday.

England play group seven rivals Slovakia in Bratislava on Saturday before returning home to face Macedonia in Southampton the following Wednesday.