Roy Hodgson’s England host Estonia in the penultimate Euro 2016 qualifiers with the Three Lions having already qualified for the tournament.
England will be without the services of captain Wayne Rooney and some other key members of the squad at the Wembley tonight. Manager Roy Hodgson confirmed that the Manchester United striker will not be risked for the game against Estonia and has been ruled out for the last two qualifiers.
The 29-year-old became England’s record goal-scorer in the last game and is set to be presented with a golden boot by Sir Bobby Charlton ahead of tonight’s game. Rooney sustained an ankle injury in Red Devils’ thrashing against Arsenal FC on Sunday.
It is a disappointment for Wayne — Roy Hodgson
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In his pre-match press conference, Roy Hodgson confirmed that Chelsea FC defender and England vice-captain Gary Cahill will lead the side against Estonia. The 68-year-old also confirmed that in-form Liverpool FC striker Danny Ings will miss tonight’s clash, however, the former Swansea boss is hopeful that the 23-year-old striker will feature against Lithuania.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by BBC, Hodgson said:
“It is a disappointment for Wayne.
“Wayne is not the type of person or type of player who likes to miss a game.
“It is settling down very, very well but we don’t to risk him on Friday.
“He’s got a lot of important Manchester United games ahead and I would be devastated if we pushed him out there and something happened to increase the problem he has with the ankle.”
Roy: @WayneRooney will be looking forward to tomorrow night when Sir Bobby Charlton presents him with his golden boot @wembleystadium
a England (@england) October 8, 2015
Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick is also a huge doubt for the clash against Estonia, having missed training on Thursday. However, there is some good news for the Three Lions with Jonjo Shelvey returning to training yesterday.
“Michael Carrick trained fully in quite an intense training session on Wednesday but he had a re-occurrence of a feeling that he sometimes gets in his groin a a slight tightening of the groin a and we didna t want to take any chances in what was a fairly light session before the match,a said Hodgson.
a So we decided to rest him for the session on the basis that it will help him be fit for tomorrow night.a