Saka injured but will start World Cup anyway

Bukayo Saka is still struggling with the Achilles problem that disrupted the end of his Arsenal season, but Thomas Tuchel is still planning to start him in England ’s World Cup opener against Croatia .

The Arsenal winger has been dealing with the issue for months and is not considered fit enough to play a full 90 minutes.

England’s final warm-up match against Costa Rica takes place on Wednesday, with their World Cup campaign due to begin against Croatia on June 17.

Tuchel told reporters at his pre-match press conference , “We still have to take a little bit of care for Bukayo [Saka] who had an injury in March and carried it through to club. He made himself available at the end of the season and did so brilliantly but he was managed in between matches; that continues a bit at the moment. We are building him up.

“Noni [ Madueke ], Declan [Rice] and Ebs [ Eze ] are 100 percent available.

“We just came from training and everyone was involved including Bukayo. We have to take the decision in the afternoon on who starts and how many minutes we give.

“They [the Arsenal players] came in very good spirit and shape. I feel them as proud and confident. They know what they did. They had a little period where it was in doubt and they overcame it. It meant a lot to them. They understand they went toe-to-toe with the best team in the world against Paris Sant Germain and lost in the shootout.

“They came in the best spirits and they are happy with that.”