Ruben Loftus-Cheek pulls out of England squad with injury

As if the defeat to Everton wasn’t already deflating enough, Ruben Loftus-Cheek has pulled out of the England squad with an apparent injury. There’s been no official clarification with regard to the exact nature of it, and it’s likely to be just a precautionary move. Loftus-Cheek played the final 25 minutes yesterday after completing the full 90 minutes on Thursday for the first time in over two months.

The Chelsea academy graduate has been dealing with a recurrence of the back injury that he’s been battling for the past five years, so this could very well be part of the management procedure. It’s unfortunate that it comes at the expense of him representing his country, but it wouldn’t be worth it if would cause him to re-aggravate it and miss further time this season. Loftus-Cheek continues to be highly unlucky with injuries after also missing several months of last year’s campaign at Crystal Palace due to problems with his ankle.

Chelsea’s lone England representative for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro with thus be Ross Barkley.