Harry,
Manchester: Good afternoon, Phil! How do you feel about players dropping
out of the England squad through “injury” but then suddenly being fully fit to
play as soon as club football returns. Was this happening 5/10/15 years ago?

Phil: Hello, Harry. Players
dropping out of England squads has been happening for as long as I can remember
and there has always been a lot of noise around whether injuries were genuine
or not, usually from fans of rival clubs who feel others are putting club
allegiances ahead of the national side’s interests.

I certainly believe most
of the injuries have been genuine and this weekend I don’t think there can be
any question these players were injured.

Trent Alexander-Arnold
was forced off after 25 minutes of Liverpool’s win against Aston Villa with a
hamstring injury, while there is no way Arsenal duo Declan Rice or Bukayo Saka
would have departed the game against Chelsea prematurely unless there was absolutely
no way they could continue. Rice was already playing with a broken toe while
Arsenal are waiting to discover the extent of Saka’s injury.

Jack Grealish’s
situation will be interesting. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola clearly
does not believe he is fit enough to be with England after missing club games
through injury, but Lee Carsley selected him and he has joined up.

We watch that one
closely.