England hit by triple injury blow as three players forced to withdraw from Lee Carsley’s squad

England have suffered a triple injury blow ahead of Nations League fixtures against Greece and Finland with Kobbie Mainoo, Morgan Gibbs-White and Ezri Konsa forced to withdraw.

The trio drop out of Lee Carsley’s squad after sustaining issues in their weekend Premier League games, with no current plans to replace them.

A 25-man group was named by Carsley last week with England hosting Greece at Wembley on Thursday before travelling to Helsinki on Sunday.

Konsa was substituted inside 15 minutes of Aston Villa’s draw with Manchester United with an apparent hamstring injury. Unai Emery admitted afterwards that he did not know if his defender’s injury was “big or small”.

Manchester United midfielder Mainoo was also replaced during the clash at Villa Park, though without an obvious issue. Teammate Harry Maguire, who missed out on selection after making Carsley’s first group since taking interim charge, did not re-emerge after the half-time interval in a potentially significant blow to under-pressure manager Erik ten Hag.

Gibbs-White made his international debut in the September win over the Republic of Ireland. He exited Nottingham Forest’s draw with Chelsea on the 76-minute mark, with Nuno Espirito Santo cautioning afterwards that a scan was required.