Bukayo Saka to miss England-San Marino clash with hamstring problem

Bukayo Saka will miss England’s World Cup qualifier against San Marino on Thursday.
(Image credit: Ian Walton)

Bukayo Saka will miss England’s opening World Cup qualifier against San Marino on Thursday as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.

The Arsenal winger remains part of Gareth Southgate’s squad but is undergoing assessment at his club, with the hope of being available for the fixtures with Albania and Poland.

Saka suffered the injury in the 2-1 north London derby win over Tottenham on March 14 and returned to play 74 minutes of Sunday’s 3-3 Premier League draw at West Ham.

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has been training indoors since meeting up with his England team-mates.

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has been training indoors since meeting up with his England team-mates (Peter Powell/PA).

The versatile 19-year-old made his Three Lions debut in October and has so far collected four caps, having largely been utilised in more defensive positions before being called up to the current squad as a forward.

Marcus Rashford has not trained with the rest of the squad as he continues to work indoors to rehabilitate a foot injury sustained in Manchester United’s 1-0 win against AC Milan in the Europa League last Thursday.

The problem ruled the 23-year-old out of the FA Cup quarter-final loss to Leicester, with United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer saying Rashford “wasn’t close” to facing the Foxes, although he did still link up with the England group this week as planned.