Kyle Walker suffered a hamstring injury during England’s defeat against Brazil last weekend (Picture: Getty)
Manchester City are ‘hopeful’ Kyle Walker will be fit to face Arsenal in Sunday’s Premier League summit meeting.
The 33-year-old captained England in the absence of Harry Kane in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Brazil at Wembley, but he was forced off after just 20 minutes.
Walker subsequently withdrew from the squad ahead of tonight’s friendly against Belgium and faces a race against time to recover in time for this weekend’s box office clash at the Etihad Stadium.
Sky Sports news report that Pep Guardiola is set to be given a timely boost with Walker reportedly having sustained only minor damage and has avoided a serious strain.
The City full-back will likely be tasked with the job of marking Bukayo Saka, who himself was forced to withdraw from the England squad last week with a muscle injury.
Southgate, meanwhile, will be forced to field a makeshift XI against the Red Devils this evening after Harry Maguire joined an ever increasing injury list.
More changes are planned for the final friendly before he names an expanded Euros squad on May 21, with one-cap Ivan Toney set to lead the line after Ollie Watkins played at the weekend.
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Kyle Walker suffered a hamstring injury against Brazil (Picture: Getty)
Bukayo Saka (right) will likely face up against Kyle Walker when Arsenal take on Man City (Picture: Getty)
‘Ivan will be involved in the game, for sure,’ Southgate said. ‘I have to say, with everything that’s happened, the original idea or plan for the week is a little bit different in that we’re probably finding out about more players.
‘But also that’s really helpful. To see all of those players against high level of opposition will help us to make better decisions moving forward.
‘You can’t worry about what we haven’t got. You’ve got to move forward. There’s a lot of different reasons for those injuries. I think it is more complex than just people looking back to a winter World Cup, but every individual situation is different, frankly.
‘It’s an incredible number that are unavailable to us – haven’t experienced that before – but, as I said earlier, that means there are opportunities for other people.
‘We saw against Brazil people really step up and take those opportunities, which is great for us as well.’
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Sunday’s trio of withdrawals saw Rico Lewis, who made his debut against North Macedonia in November, and uncapped James Trafford follow Mainoo in being promoted from the under-21s.
Highly rated defender Jarrad Branthwaite is pushing to make his debut against Belgium, with Declan Rice captaining the side on his 50th England appearance as Southgate said Jordan Henderson is “not unavailable to us this time”.
Cole Palmer could feature, having recovered from an issue that kept him out against Brazil, and the England boss looking forward to Tuesday’s clash between the sides third and fourth in FIFA’s world rankings.
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