James Maddison remains absent from England training following knee injury

By Mark Mann-Bryans, PA, Doha

James Maddison was once again absent from England training as he continues his recovery from a niggling knee issue.

The Leicester midfielder was unavailable for the opening 6-2 World Cup win over Iran having not trained since the first session the team held on arrival in Qatar last week.

He was forced off in the Foxes’ win at West Ham in the final round of Premier League fixtures before the break for the tournament and is still rehabbing the injury.

There are 13 players involved in today's session, with @CallumWilson joining the 11 who started yesterday's game working inside, while @Madders10 continues his rehabilitation indoors. pic.twitter.com/mDgUU1K9IL

— England (@England) November 22, 2022

“He hasn’t been able to train, so that is a slight concern,” manager Gareth Southgate told talkSPORT before the Iran game.

“The longer that continues, the longer it will take him to be available for the matches – but we’re not expecting him to miss training for much longer and we’ll just have to assess it from there.”

While Maddison remains a doubt for England’s second Group B game against the United States on Friday, everyone else is currently in contention.

Captain Harry Kane took a blow to his foot against Iran and Harry Maguire came off feeling ill but both are expected to be fine.

Meanwhile Callum Wilson did not train in a light session with the rest of the substitutes at England’s Al Wakrah training base on Wednesday but is also not considered a fitness doubt.