Arsenal 28yo set to be available to start after injury concern

Fears were raised around the fitness status of Ezri Konsa when the Arsenal defender was absent from training on Monday, with the FA explaining that Konsa and Nico O’Reilly would be following their own individual training programmes.

O’Reilly has subsequently withdrawn from the squad, but Konsa remains on England duty, and he made the bench for the midweek match against the Czech Republic.

Reports on the defender’s condition remain positive, with Ryan Taylor reporting for Football.London that there’s hope the centre-back will be ready to start this Saturday for England against Croatia.

Taylor adds that there are no serious concerns over Konsa’s condition, with Thomas Tuchel previously confirming that the defender only has a ‘minor’ issue.

Tuchel did go on to add that he would have liked to play the same team against Czechia as he did in the Spain game, so the fact Konsa was benched was clearly to do with his fitness.

But unlike with O’Reilly, it’s also evident that there’s still optimism the former Aston Villa player will be able to feature in England’s remaining games of the September-October break.

England play Croatia on Saturday at 17:00 BST, before wrapping up the break back in London against Czechia on Tuesday, October 6th at 19:45.

Arsenal will then be in action just four days later on Saturday, October 10th, in the early kick-off against Leeds United. So, ideally, Konsa will start the Croatia match and then get another rest in midweek.