Declan Rice withdraws from England duty

Declan Rice has become one of five players to withdraw from the England squad due to injury, with the Arsenal midfielder returning to his club.

England have confirmed that five players who were originally called up to Thomas Tuchel’s squad for the upcoming break have since withdrawn, with Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice among them.

Rice joins Newcastle United’s Tino Livramento, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, and Manchester United duo Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford in being ruled out of England’s Nations League matches over the next fortnight.

England have confirmed that all five withdrawals relate to injury issues, and that James Garner and Morgan Gibbs-White have been called up as a result.

Rice completed his last appearance for Arsenal against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, so there was no obvious warning that he might be about to pull out of the international break.

But it’s well known that the midfielder has been struggling with a niggling hamstring issue in recent months, and perhaps he needed the time off to help deal with that.

Arsenal will now hope to get Rice ready for their next game at home to Leeds United on October 10th.

Arsenal still have four players in the England squad, with Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Ezri Konsa, and Myles Lewis-Skelly all included.

With five players out and only two called up so far, it looks like Tuchel will have a smaller squad, and the remaining four Gunners may have an increased role over the next two weeks as a result.

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