England hit by double injury blow for Nations League as Lee Carsley faces centre-back shortage

Lee Carsley has been dealt a double injury blow as England prepare to meet up for their forthcoming Uefa Nations League matches.

Ezri Konsa is out having suffered an apparent hamstring injury early on in Aston Villa’s goalless home draw with Manchester United.

Another absentee is expected to be Morgan Gibbs-White who was substituted in the second-half of Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It appeared the midfielder suffered an ankle or lower leg injury as he attempted to strike the ball.

Konsa went down under a challenge from United’s Rasmus Hojlund with Villa manager Unai Emery later saying the injury to the central defender still needed to be properly assessed. But the expectation is that he will not be fit to face either Greece – at Wembley on Thursday – or against Finland in Helsinki on Sunday.

“I don’t know, hopefully it’s not a lot. Hopefully, he can rest in the international break,” Emery said. “We can have some days off [in the international break] we can recover our energy and try to push in the next month.”

There was more bad news for Carsley with Harry Maguire, a potential replacement for Konsa having been dropped from the squad announced last week, also going off at half-time.

Maguire was seen wearing a protective boot leaving Villa Park and needed to be replaced along with Noussair Mazraoui in United’s 0-0 draw.

“We have to take them off at half-time. We have to see what is the diagnosis on it,” Erik Ten Hag said.

“We have to assess this. I can’t tell you now what the issue is. I know what the issue is but [I cannot say now] how good or bad it is. We have to assess this tomorrow [Monday] and then we will bring you news.”

Carsley will assess his options having named a 25-man squad last week. There was a scare for England captain Harry Kane, who was substituted during the second half of Bayern Munich’s 3-3 Bundesliga draw at Eintracht Frankfurt following a collision which left him in need of treatment on his right thigh before being substituted for Mathys Tel.

Among the defenders, Levi Colwill was replaced late on for Chelsea but it is understood he should still report to St George’s Park with the rest of the squad on Monday.

Carsley will almost certainly have to replace Konsa with just three fit centre-halves in his squad. Another possible option, Jarrad Branthwaite, missed Everton’s draw at home with Newcastle United on Saturday also through injury.

Gibbs-White’s absence can be covered more easily, with Jude Bellingham back in the squad along with Cole Palmer and Phil Foden, but Carsley may consider a recall for Tottenham’s in-form James Maddison or Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze, who was dropped from the squad having been called up last month. Carsley has also discussed a first inclusion for Villa’s Morgan Rogers.