England winger Bukayo Saka has been left out of the matchday squad for Thomas Tuchel’s third game in charge.
The Three Lions will play Andorra in Barcelona on Saturday looking to continue their perfect start to qualifying for the 2026 World Cup against a team they’ve played six times without ever conceding a goal.
Tuchel has enjoyed a winning start as England manager, beating Albania 2-0 and Latvia 3-0 in March to take an immediate lead at the top of Group K. The former Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain boss will be confident of another victory in his first game away from Wembley.
Arsenal star Saka is in the England squad for back-to-back fixtures against Andorra in World Cup qualifying and Senegal in an international friendly next week but has been ruled out of any involvement in Barcelona on Saturday.
The 23-year-old has played 43 times for England since making his debut as a teenager in 2020 but is yet to feature under Tuchel because of the hamstring injury that made him unavailable for the first two World Cup qualifiers.
Although he returned for the Gunners, Saka’s workload has been closely managed by Mikel Arteta and his staff, and Tuchel told reporters at his pre-match press conference on Friday that the winger has only fully participated in one training session in the current England camp.
“His omission from the squad to face Andorra [is] likely to be linked to his fitness,” reports BBC Sport.
“It remains to be seen whether Saka will play a part in the friendly against Senegal on 10 June, to add to his 43 caps for the Three Lions.
“The winger missed three months of action between December and April with a hamstring injury, though he returned for the final two months of the campaign.”
Tuchel’s third England side will also be without Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, who has returned to England “as a precaution” after picking up a knock.
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Like Saka, Watkins is yet to play under Tuchel. The Villa marksman and the England boss agreed that he should rest to protect further damage relating to another minor injury in March.
Former Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher will also be absent from Tuchel’s match squad on Saturday, but the reason for the Atletico Madrid man’s omission is not yet known.
England should suffer no adverse effects of three missing players. Previous fixtures against Andorra have been extremely comfortable for the Three Lions, who still have an extraordinarily capable and largely in-form squad available for Tuchel’s third game.
The FIFA World Rankings are a notoriously imperfect measure but the comparison between fourth-placed England and their World Cup qualifying opposition this weekend couldn’t be much starker.
Andorra dropped two places to 173rd in the world last time the rankings were updated. The Tricolors started their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 defeat at home against Latvia and a 3-0 loss in Albania.
Their last goals came in a 2-0 friendly win over San Marino in October.