England boss Gareth Southgate has confirmed he will be without James Maddison and Kyle Walker for the Three Lions' opening 2022 World Cup clash with Iran on Monday.
Maddison hasn't completed a full training session with the Three Lions squad since jetting out to Qatar after picking up a knee injury in Leicester City's final Premier League clash with West Ham before the World Cup break.
Instead, the midfielder has been training indoors away from his teammates, who have been doing drills at the hottest point of the day in order to acclimatise to the intense desert sun before their midday opener at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Manchester City right-back Walker, on the other hand, has been training with the England squad at the Al-Wakrah Sports Club base.
But the defender is struggling with a groin injury he picked up against Manchester United back on October 2, and he hasn't played for Pep Guardiola's side since, missing their past six matches.
Southgate said to the press on Sunday, ahead of England's opening fixture: "In terms of player availability, everybody's available bar James Maddison for tomorrow. It's a little bit early for Kyle Walker but he is training with the team, so that's ahead of where we thought he might be at this stage. Very positive.
"We're looking forward to this challenge and I've really liked the way the players have approached training this week."
Southgate also confirmed that his England players will take a knee before the match against Iran as a show of unity, with the squad agreeing on the decision following a discussion.
"We have discussed taking a knee. We feel we should," said Southgate. "It's what we stand for as a team and have done for a long period of time. We understand in the Premier League that the clubs have decided to only do that for certain games, big occasions.
"We feel this is the biggest and we think it's a strong statement that will go around the world for young people, in particular, to see that inclusivity is very important."
