England men’s hockey head coach Bobby Crutchley says his side are desperate to be crowned European champions despite having already secured qualification for Rio 2016.

Victory at next week’s Unibet EuroHockey Championships 2015 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will see the winner guaranteed a spot a next summer’s Olympic Games.

However, the pressure is off for Crutchley’s side with Great Britain’s Rio berth already secured after a third-placed finish at the Hockey World League semi-final.

But Crutchley – who was born on the Wirral and began playing hockey at Calday Grange Grammar School – insists his side will not be taking their foot off the gas as they look to be crowned European champions for the first time since 2009.

“You can’t hide the fact that some of the pressure was on qualifying for Rio from that World League and we are very happy that we have achieved that,” he said. “There will still be a lot of pressure coming into this tournament because of our personal expectations that we have as a team.

“Every tournament we go into now we are there to win it. This tournament is such a tough one with four of the top five teams in the world here.

“It’s a really tough tournament and you don’t have time because of the format to make too many mistakes.

“There are no easy matches and we have to make sure we perform from the first game.”

It is set to be a tough tournament for England with Pool A clashes against the Netherlands and Spain as well as an opening match with Russia.

But Crutchley insists he is happy with the squad at his disposal and is looking to take full advantage of home comforts.

“Selection wasn’t as simple as it might look and what is good at the moment is that we have more competition for places that we have had previously,” he added.

“We are happy with the squad we have selected and even if we have a few injuries we have the cover that can come in.

“A lot of the guys were at the world league and that went well so what we hope to do is kick on from here and put in some good performances and winning is the aim.

“We are excited to be here and playing a big tournament in front of a home crowd in such a great venue.

“The venue is one we are able to use regularly so it’s a place we are getting more and more used to playing so it’s a place we are happy to call home.”

The Unibet EuroHockey Championships 2015, featuring both England’s men’s and women’ teams, takes place between 21-30 August at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Tickets available at www.eurohockey2015.co.uk