Thursday has seen The FA announce a number of England withdrawals.
This comes as we are roughly halfway through the extra long international break.
Newcastle United having 23 days between Premier League matches.
Today has seen Nico O’Reilly return to Manchester City due to injury, leaving the senior squad.
Whilst The FA also revealed that Jobe Bellingham and Newcastle United star Lewis Miley have left the Under 21s squad to return to their respective squads.
Miley’s issue is reported as not serious and just a knock, so he should be okay for the NUFC away game at Coventry on Monday 12 October.
The departure of Nico O’Reilly won’t have done the chances of Lewis Hall any harm in this set of internationals. With Myles Lewis-Skelly, who has been playing in midfield, the only remaining obvious alternative to play left-back in the remaining two games in the next week for England.
Thomas Tuchel named his England squad 13 days ago but then quickly lost five of the players before the group even got together – Tino Livramento, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford and Declan Rice.
At the same time as naming five withdrawing, The FA named two that had been added, James Garner and Morgan Gibbs-White.
It is Croatia v England at 5pm on Saturday 3 October. Finally, it is England v Czech Republic at 7.45pm on Tuesday 6 October.
Instead of having three international breaks each for a fortnight in September, October and November, the football authorities have combined the September and October 2026 ones in just one that lasts three weeks. The November 2026 break remains the same, lasting two weeks.
The England squad (see below) after six dropped out and two came in:
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Jason Steele (Brighton & Hove Albion), James Trafford (Leeds United)
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Trevoh Chalobah (Como), Marc Guéhi (Manchester City), Lewis Hall (Newcastle United), Ezri Konsa (Arsenal), Jarrell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen)
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Manchester City), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Alex Scott (AFC Bournemouth), James Garner (Everton), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)
Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds United), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Barcelona), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Rio Ngumoha (Liverpool), Morgan Rogers (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)