England defenders Ezri Konsa and Nico O'Reilly have missed group training ahead of the national team's visit to Czechia in the UEFA Nations League.
The duo, who play for Arsenal and Manchester City, were following individual training programmes on Monday morning instead of joining the rest of the squad on the pitch.
Their absence presents a late tactical concern for England head coach Thomas Tuchel, whose squad travels to Prague on Monday afternoon ahead of Tuesday evening's fixture.
England have not disclosed the specific reasons why the pair missed training. Both Konsa and O'Reilly played the full 90 minutes during England's 3-2 defeat against Spain at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.
In an official statement released on Monday, the national team confirmed the training arrangements at Tottenham Hotspur's training ground in London.
blockquote>'Ezri Konsa and Nico O’Reilly are following their own individual programmes at Tottenham Hotspur‘s training ground this morning. All other 22 players are involved in group training ahead of the squad departing for Prague this afternoon.'
Defensive options and squad withdrawals
Should Konsa be ruled out of the starting lineup in Prague, Trevoh Chalobah or Jarrad Branthwaite could step in at centre-back. At left-back, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Lewis Hall are options to replace O'Reilly.
The potential absence of the defensive pair comes at a challenging time for Tuchel, who has come under pressure following the manner of England's World Cup semi-final exit to Argentina and their loss to Spain.
The squad had already been depleted prior to Monday's session. Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo, and Tino Livramento all pulled out of the squad entirely due to a variety of injury and load management concerns.
Tuchel on fixture congestion
Speaking ahead of the trip, Tuchel bemoaned the fixture congestion of the current international break, which sees teams play four matches inside a three-week window, though all of England's assignments are within a 10-day period.
blockquote>'I think the players would have loved three short windows,' Tuchel said. 'I can hardly think of a period in club football where you have matches and a turnaround like we have now. We have Saturday-Tuesday and then another Saturday-Tuesday, so only two days in between each game. That sounds too condensed if you have two-and-a-half weeks together. It does not feel 100 per cent right, I have to say.'
blockquote>'But it is what it is,' Tuchel added. 'We have this window and we have used the time for some very good training sessions so far, and we want to add one more to that. It is also the first time for me doing a camp after a major tournament and, as I said, there can be a bit of a mix of emotions. We have not seen each other since the tournament and there is a new tournament going on, so there are a lot of mixed emotions and a lot of different influences in this camp. But the longer it goes on, the more I feel the focus is coming back, and playing against the reigning world champions tomorrow will help.'
What comes next for England
England squad members travel to Prague on Monday afternoon before completing their final preparations for Tuesday night's Nations League fixture against Czechia.
