Gary Cahill is looking forward to seeing how England fare against tougher opposition when they meet European champions Spain and Euro 2016 hosts France in November.
The Chelsea defender, 29, was captain for his country in their 2-0 qualification victory over Estonia, with regular skipper Wayne Rooney not risked due to an ankle problem.
That victory made it nine straight wins for England in Group E ahead of their final tie of the campaign in Lithuania on Monday.
Cahill has been impressed by England's form since their failure to emerge from the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, but believes the games with Spain and France will provide his team with the most realistic assessment yet of their capabilities.
"I think it will give a good marker for us," he said to Sky Sports.
"We have work to do and we need to improve to have a chance in the summer, but we have done pretty well since the World Cup.
"They [the two matches] will be a good test. If we win them, great. If we don't, we have to take things from them. They will be tough, but they are ones we are looking forward to.
"We don't get carried away. The squad is changing with injuries but everyone is buying in to the philosophy of how the manager and staff want to play and it is working well, so long may that continue."
On whether the squad are eager to make it a perfect 10 in qualification against Lithuania, Cahill added: "For sure, but we don't want to get too carried away with it.
"Obviously we have done so much hard work from the disappointment in the summer. To get nine out of nine we want to finish the job and be a part of that record and hopefully we can do that."
