He may be several tattoos, a notorious wife and more than 90 international caps short of being exactly like his hero but Sebastian Larsson’s recent attempts at emulating David Beckham have nevertheless been pretty convincing.

The Swede’s penchant for scoring spectacular goals has not so much reached new heights as more scintillatingly found more regular targets with two outstanding free-kicks in as many games.

Few who saw his injury-time howitzer at White Hart Lane, from open play it should be noted, thought they would see anything better from the midfielder’s right boot this season.

But the former Arsenal man not only continued his persecution of Tottenham Hotspur when the sides met at St Andrew’s a fortnight ago but curled an even more beautiful placekick into the back of the Portsmouth net on Tuesday night.

Larsson is starting to assemble a few illustrious scalps on his way. England goalkeepers past and present have been powerless to prevent the affable 22-year-old from muddying their knees without reward.

First Spurs’ Paul Robinson was unable to make sufficient ground to get to Larsson’s 55th-minute pearl in a 4-1 win and then David James — the best domestic goalkeeper in the Premiership for several seasons, was left clutching nothing more than Hampshire air in midweek, as Birmingham clawed back a two-goal deficit.

With Newcastle United visiting for a relegation showdown on Monday, Larsson’s development into an increasingly potent specialist could not be better timed, in fact it’s a tad overdue.

"I remember when I was younger my brother always wanted to play one-on-ones but I always wanted to ask him to go in goal and shoot from a free-kick," Larsson says. "It’s something I have always loved doing.

"Do I model myself on Beckham? Yeah, I have always said when people ask me I think he is a great player. He can change or win a game quickly.

"He has always had his critics but to me he has always had that ability. In that way he is someone I have looked up to."

Larsson admits his approach is not especially technical. He doesn’t spend hours poring over re-runs of Cristiano Ronaldo’s barely credible strike against Pompey, instead he relies on a gut-feeling on the day.

Depending on how he’s playing, the position on the field, even the insistence of team-mates it’s their turn, Larsson will either offer his enchanted right boot or defer to a colleague.

Indeed the only pre-requisite he has is the placement of the ball: "Do I try and hit it on the valve? No. I can’t say it’s something I think about. The only thing I do is try and put it with the Nike sign straight ahead." For aesthetic rather than aerodynamic reasons, he admits.

There is some thought behind his recent progress, however. Larsson is far from certain to make his country’s squad for the Euro 2008 finals — indeed it was only six months ago that the national coach Lars Lagerback dismissed the playmaker as ‘not good enough’.

Since then he has enhanced his claims with a hugely credible half a season of Premier League football and if he can establish a reputation as a set-piece technician that could only aid his cause. "They are a big part of the game today, hopefully that will help me," he says.

Sweden do not possess such a commodity, indeed they never have and with their failure to fire the last time they were in a major championships — at the 2006 World Cup, Larsson’s rise must surely be worth a place in the squad.

Particularly if he can match the feat of his great hero. Larsson cites Beckham’s equaliser in the World Cup qualifying draw with Greece in 2002 as the one he would most like to copy.

"It was a great free-kick in that situation," he says. He might jusr get the chance. In Sweden’s group this summer are Spain, Russia . . . and Greece.