England midfield trio miss training ahead of Nations League matches
Jude Bellingham, Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice trained indoors on Tuesday ahead of Friday's meeting with Italy
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Your support makes all the difference.Midfield trio Jude Bellingham, Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice trained indoors as England took to the grass for the first time ahead of their Nations League double-header.
Henderson linked up with the squad on Monday night having been drafted in to replace the injured Kalvin Phillips and was one of three players not to train with the group on Tuesday morning.
Newcastle full-back Kieran Trippier was also not among the main group and will not meet up with the squad until later in the day due to a personal commitment.
Ivan Toney trained with Gareth Southgate and the other 23 senior players for the first time, the Brentford striker having received his maiden call-up last week.
The Three Lions boss is working with an expanded group with the World Cup now just two months away.
“This is a bigger than normal squad and part of the rationale is that we are very close to a World Cup and we feel, although our results were disappointing in the summer, we have picked on the basis of form and capability over a long period,” Southgate explained after his latest selections were announced.
“There were certain players we wanted to keep involved this time, but that said it doesn’t mean that this is the end for some of the others who aren’t involved.
“Marcus Rashford, for example, has shown some encouraging signs recently. He is a player we know well so if he can perform at a high level in the next few weeks, he of course will be under consideration.
“Clearly, we have a number of players including Ben Chilwell, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips who are not playing a lot of minutes with their club. It is not ideal, but we feel they have been, and can be, important players for us. It is not a perfect situation but there is still a lot of football to be played before Qatar.”
England travel to face Italy in Milan on Friday night, knowing defeat would see them relegated to League B of the Nations League having lost two and drawn two of their Group A3 fixtures to date.
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