Thomas Tuchel gives injury update on Arsenal star ahead of England vs Croatia

Thomas Tuchel has shared a positive injury update on Ezri Konsa after the Arsenal star missed England training last week.

The Three Lions are gearing up for their third Nations League game of this extended international break in Croatia on Saturday.

After defeat to world champions Spain in their opening game, England roared back with a 2-0 win over 10-man Czech Republic after Tuchel changed his line-up signicantly.

Two of those changes were enforced with Trevoh Chalobah and Lewis Hall replacing Konsa and Nico O’Reilly after the pair missed team training.

The Arsenal defender made the bench for the trip to Prague but the Manchester City left-back returned to his club because of an injury.

There were fears that Konsa may also have picked up an issue, but Tuchel has confirmed that the summer signing from Aston Villa is well and may yet feature against Croatia.

‘It seems Ezri Konsa is back, he did the full training today and that gives us a lot of hope for tomorrow because he’s a key player for us,’ the England manager said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.

‘Nico O’Reilly our left-back left the camp and on the right side we have competition. And Marc Guehi should be ready to go and very likely to start.’

Tuchel has suggested further rotation may be needed with his side set to play the Czech Republic again at Wembley on Tuesday before players return to their clubs.

Once change that will definitely be made is in between the sticks, with Jordan Pickford to start after James Trafford played the first two fixtures.

‘We are still in a place where we can use everyone,’ Tuchel added.

‘Once we travel back, have another flight and another bus trip until we are finally in London and then only a two-day turnaround, it becomes a time when we have to take into consideration if we want to keep intensity in the games, we may have to lose some matches from the schedule.

‘I told you before these two and half weeks I’d love to give responsibility to the core of the team. I am still in that place.

‘I think for tomorrow, we are quite free in our choice and then, maybe it could be a problem for the fourth game.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Comments


Add as preferred source