England will play two matches during the international break but interim manager Lee Carsley will be without Cole Palmer, Ollie Watkins and Phil Foden.
England will take on Ireland in the Nations League at the weekend and then next week, they welcome Finland at the Wembley for the same tournament. However, the English FA have just revealed that the trio has returned to their respective clubs to continue their rehabilitation process and Carsley is not going to bring in replacements
In a statement, the Football Association said, as quoted: “Cole Palmer, Ollie Watkins and Phil Foden will play no part in England’s forthcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures.
“The Three Lions squad reported to St George’s Park on Tuesday but, following assessment, both Palmer and Watkins returned to their clubs to continue rehabilitation for ongoing issues.
“No further additions are planned at this moment in time.”
Phil Foden has missed Manchester City’s previous two Premier League matches as he has been struggling to recover from a stomach virus. Hence, it was not a secret that the forward was going to withdraw from national duty.
The extent of the injuries to Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins are not known yet but if the setbacks are serious then they have two weeks to make a full recovery.
Cole Palmer is absolutely instrumental to Chelsea’s plans because the 22-year-old already has five goal contributions in 3 league matches. If his injury is severe then it is going to be a major headache for the manager because even though Enzo Maresca has ample backup, none of them have the same quality as Cole Palmer.
Ollie Watkins, on the other hand, has made a very slow start for Aston Villa and the centre-forward is yet to score in the Premier League. John Duran has done pretty well whenever he’s replaced Watkins but Villa will begin their Champions League campaign right after the international break and if Watkins’ injury is serious then Unai Emery will be in deep trouble.
Thankfully for Chelsea, they are playing in the Conference League plus their next few Premier League games aren’t too hard so even if Cole Palmer is out for a few weeks, the manager can cope up without him. The Blues manager has used Cole Palmer in the No. 10 role for the first three league games and if he is unavailable after the international break then Nukunku should be the one to replace him.
