Gerrard and Walker rulled out

Roy Hodgson will be forced to field a more experimental side than he had hoped to when England play Chile on Friday as the injury problems pile up.

 

Steven Gerrard, who has a hip injury, and Kyle Walker are out of the friendly after being forced to miss training today.

 

They were restricted to working out in the gym, as was Daniel Sturridge, who has a foot complaint, giving the manager further selection issues after Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck pulled out of the squad through injury.

 

It was confirmed today that Carrick, the Manchester United midfielder, could be out for six weeks with his Achilles problem and it is in his position that Hodgson will have a lot to think about.

 

Frank Lampard, an obvious choice to replace Gerrard as skipper, is struggling with a cold and that could leave the England manager with a captaincy conundrum.

 

Wayne Rooney is another candidate to take the armband if the Chelsea midfielder, who trained today, is not fit to play.

 

Replacing Gerrard in midfield could see Jack Wilshere get the chance to play in his favoured central role or Phil Jones could be pushed forward to bring solidity.

 

But the absence of the captain and Carrick also improves the prospects of Jordan Henderson, Tom Cleverley and new call-up Adam Lallana.

 

Hodgson has good options at full-back though, with Glen Johnson, Jones and Chris Smalling all able to play there.

 

SkySports