Stoke 3-0 Blackburn: The Daily Mirror match report

Eighteen months ago Matthew Etherington was entrenched in a personal nightmare, saddled with substantial debts approaching £800,000 after failing to kick a severe gambling addiction at West Ham.

But now the only odds connected with Etherington are the bookies rating his chances of a call-up to the England squad at 8-1.

The Stoke winger has emerged from his own pit of doom to rebuild his life off the field, attending a Gambling Anonymous clinic in Birmingham twice a week, and he is now close to signing a new contract at the Britannia Stadium.

Etherington has repaired his reputation to such an extent that boss Tony Pulis reckons the reformed gambler is a good bet to sneak a place on the plane to South Africa.

And while the 28-year-old is refusing to get carried away by talk of the World Cup, he insists that ridding himself of his demons has allowed him to rescue his career.

He said: "It was a part of my life that took my focus away from football which was unfortunate at the time and I have learned from that.

"I will be the first to admit that I made mistakes about gambling. It was a silly time of my life and it got on top of me. It got out of control. I have curbed that and it is now behind me.

"I will keep on top of it and make sure I never have a bet again. At that time of my life it was pretty low for me.

"I'm doing all I can and I will keep doing it for the foreseeable future. Since I've stopped all that, my form has been good."

"I am not gambling any more and I don't want to. I'm happy in my career and my personal life. That leads to doing well on the pitch."

Etherington enhanced his chances of a surprise call from Fabio Capello with another excellent performance, capped by a sublime third goal that killed off a dreadful Blackburn.

The former Hammer has never been capped before at senior level but Pulis believes he and team-mate Ryan Shawcross face a vital three months as they bid to gatecrash Capelloís squad.

But Etherington appears underwhelmed and almost embarrassed by the mere mention of the Three Lions.

"I'm not thinking about that," he said. "There are four or five great players in my position like Stewart Downing and Joe Cole - and Steven Gerrard can play there.

"I'm not going to get my hopes up. I'm not going to get above myself. If I keep doing well for Stoke City, who knows. But I think it's a bit of a long shot.

"I would say that I'm in the best form of my career though. Like I said, when you're happy off the field the two go hand in hand.

"'I'm storing all the man-of-match awards at home, I've got a little place on the side. There are a few there! I let my girlfriend drink them."

This defeat will do little to ease the growing pressure on Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce. The Ewood Park board's verdict on him is split and he may well rue his decision to flog Benni McCarthy to West Ham in last month's January sales - because his troops looked toothless here.

Rovers were simply swept aside by a clinical, mega-efficient Stoke side who are well on course to secure a third successive season at the top table.

Danny Higginbotham's first Premier League goal since November 2008 shattered the early tedium and Mama Sidibe dispatched another delicious Etherington cross in first half injury time.

Christopher Samba's silly dismissal for a cynical tug on Ricardo Fuller completed another disastrous afternoon for Allardyce and Etherington collected his fifth goal of the season shortly afterwards following an exquisite counter-attack that may even force Stoke's critics to revise their opinions on their style of play. Brutal and intimidating they can be, but there is beauty to go with the beast.

Whether Etherington can hit the jackpot and earn recognition with England remains to be seen.