John Stones injury update as Gareth Southgate handed quadruple England Euro 2024 worry

England suffered a shock defeat to Iceland in Friday's friendly that evoked memories of their last loss to the nation at Euro 2016.

Harry Kane, Kyle Walker and John Stones were part of the squad that were embarrassed in Roy Hodgson’s final game as Three Lions boss, and were all on the pitch for Gareth Southgate's final warm-up before Euro 2024 begins.

England are backed as one of the favourites for the tournament and have left some big names out of their squad. Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish and James Maddison are just three while Harry Maguire misses out due to his ongoing calf injury.

His return timeline was deemed too problematic by Southgate, who has a number of other fitness concerns ahead of his side’s opening match against Serbia a week on Sunday. All of them involve defenders, three of whom are centre-backs.

Manchester City defender Stones sustained a blow to the ankle in the first minute against Iceland, albeit managed to continue through until half-time. Southgate says his withdrawal was precautionary rather than anything sinister.

"We think he's probably OK but we didn't want to take a chance given what's coming up," he said after full-time. Stones picked up several knocks this season and only started one Premier League game since the end of March.

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Another colleague who took a whack at Wembley on Friday is Crystal Palace ace Marc Guehi, who is being tipped to start against Serbia. The 23-year-old took a knock to the head in the second half and required treatment for a number of minutes before resuming play.

He completed the match without further blemish and is therefore assumed not to have sustained any serious damage. Two other teammates sat out the match due to problems, though.

Lewis Dunk of Brighton is thought to be carrying a minor knock, having played 73 minutes against Bosnia & Herzegovina on Monday before undergoing individual training in the build-up to Iceland.

Meanwhile, Manchester United's Luke Shaw is not expected to feature until the second group game against Denmark on Thursday, June 20. The 28-year-old has not played since February due to a muscle injury but has kept his place due to the lack of options at left-back.

Kieran Trippier started both of this week’s friendlies in the role, with Liverpool star Joe Gomez also able to play there. Southgate meanwhile confirmed this week that, at centre-back, fellow Reds youngster Jarrel Quansah is on the standby list in the event of any long-term setback