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Gareth Southgate has provided an update on Bukayo Saka’s fitness ahead of the EURO 2020 semi-final on Wednesday.
Bukayo Saka missed England’s quarter-final triumph against Ukraine after suffering a knock in training after successive starts against the Czech Republic and Germany.
The Arsenal teenager has already returned to training with England. Gareth Southgate provided an encouraging update on the injury issue ahead of the semi-final against Denmark.
“He should be fine,” said Southgate. “He did declare himself available for the [Ukraine] game. But we had not really had the chance to see him on the pitch and working at the level we felt would vindicate that decision.
“He will go back into full training with the group on Monday and he should be fine.”
The major question is whether Southgate will reintroduce Saka into his starting team, England did well enough without Bukayo Saka against Ukraine. But that appeared to be down to a change in formation. And also the fact that Ukraine simply isn’t on the same level as Germany.
Jadon Sancho, in particular, didn’t provide much more than Saka had in the previous two games. With Saka, you know you’re getting both the defensive work rate and the attacking output.
Saka has come off as a substitute in both of England’s starts this tournament. This is probably unsurprising given how much he runs himself into the ground while on the field.
As a result, opposing defenders become fatigued and are forced to deal with impact subs.
But that is entirely up to Southgate. Along with Saka and Sancho, Gareth Southgate has Phil Foden as a backup option, so he has a lot to ponder about.
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By: Football Auditor
Title: Bukayo Saka’s injury status update ahead of semi-finals for England
Sourced From: www.footballaudit.com/bukayo-sakas-injury-status-update-ahead-of-semi-finals-for-england/
Published Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2021 08:13:56 +0000
