Ruben Loftus-Cheek was included in England’s squad for their two qualifiers against Czechia and Montenegro this week, only to withdraw at the last minute due to injury.
Naturally fans must be worried that this represents a new obstacle for him, but hopefully this is just a precaution.
He’s not started a lot of games recently as Maurizio Sarri looks to manage this issue, but he did feature for 25 second half minutes against Everton, finishing the game with no visibly issues.
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So it sounds like the club just weren’t keen on him playing potentially twice in a week. Instead, he’s had a fortnight off, and if ever there was a time to consider him for the first team, this was it.
Assuming he’s fit, he should be fresh and we hope he’s been doing well both physically and tactically in training at Cobham.
Given our defeat to Everton, he should be started if he’s at all physically capable.
The bad news is that his rival for a first team spot, Ross Barkley, bagged twice for his country in Ruben’s absence.
That’s what happens if you stay at home, unfortunately.
