Thomas Tuchel has shared a positive injury update on Ezri Konsa after the Arsenal defender missed England training last week. The Three Lions face Croatia in their third Nations League game of the extended international break on Saturday, and the England manager confirmed the summer signing from Aston Villa is back in full training.
Konsa returns to full training
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Tuchel said: “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.”
Konsa made the bench for the trip to Prague after missing team training, but there were fears he may have picked up an issue. Meanwhile, Nico O’Reilly left the camp because of an injury and returned to Manchester City.
England’s Nations League campaign so far
England suffered defeat to world champions Spain in their opening game but bounced back with a 2-0 win over 10-man Czech Republic after Tuchel changed his line-up significantly. Trevoh Chalobah and Lewis Hall came into the side in place of Konsa and O’Reilly.
Tuchel added: “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.”
Rotation plans and goalkeeper change
Tuchel has suggested further rotation may be needed with England set to play the Czech Republic again at Wembley on Tuesday before players return to their clubs. One definite change is in goal, 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 said. “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.”
