England will be without Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount and Nick Pope for their upcoming European Championship qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine. The three players have withdrawn due to injury, as confirmed by an official statement from the FA.
No replacements have been announced for Mount and Rashford. However, Tottenham’s Fraser Forster has been called up to the national team for the first time since 2016 to replace Pope.
Three key England players withdraw due to injuries
The 23 players selected for international duty have arrived at St George’s Park, and are training for their trip to Italy on 23rd now. They will host Ukraine at Wembley Stadium on 26th March in the second match of the break.
Rashford picked up a knock in Manchester United’s 3-1 win against Fulham in the FA Cup quarter final. On the other hand, Mason Mount is still recovering from a niggling injury and hasn’t featured for Chelsea since February. He was originally selected by Gareth Southgate in the squad, but Chelsea manager Graham Potter later confirmed that he won’t be able to play due to injury.
Both players will continue their recovery with their clubs to be fit for the matches afterwards.
England finished as the finalists in Euro 2020, the finals of which were held at Wembley. Italy ended up winning on penalties, and a replay of the final will be played in only a couple of days.
