Possible England XI v Ireland after eight players including Jack Grealish withdraw from squad
England manager Lee Carsley is facing a selection crisis ahead of his final two games as senior England manager.
Former Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley has been hit with EIGHT withdrawals from his squad ahead of his final two games as interim manager of the senior England team.
Carsley will step down ahead of Thomas Tuchel’s arrival after the games against Greece and Sunday’s Wembley clash with Heimir Hallgrímsson’s Ireland.
His hopes of bowing out on a high have been hit by a significant number of withdrawals, with eight players including Manchester City’s Jack Grealish ruled out of the Nations League ties.
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The initial decision to include Grealish in the squad angered his club boss Pep Guardiola, who said: “It's a question for the England manager - I'm not involved. They can select who they want.
“I'm not the guy to say you cannot go (on international duty). But for my team, he's not fit. He cannot play.”
Grealish’s clubmate Phil Foden is also out, as is Arsenal star Bukayo Saka. He was hurt during Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
Declan Rice, who along with Grealish scored in England’s September win at the Aviva Stadium against their former country, has pulled out. So too have Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Chelsea pair Levi Colwill and Cole Palmer, Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Carsley has called up his former England Under-21 star Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa, West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen, Jarrad Branthwaite of Everton and uncapped pair Tino Livramento (Newcastle) and James Trafford (Burnley).
After their shock home defeat to Greece last month, England need to win in Athens to keep alive their automatic promotion hopes.
So Carsley is likely to field his strongest possible side on Thursday, and that could mean a few new caps in his starting XI against Ireland at Wembley on Sunday, with some of his former Under-21 stars getting the nod.
Here’s how his team could line out against Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side (uncapped in bold):
Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)
Tino Livramento (Newcastle), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Southampton), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Rico Lewis (Manchester City)
Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Angel Gomes (Lille)
Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle)
Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
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