John Stones signaled to be withdrawn after jarring his leg when attempting to retrieve the ball.
England were playing against Belgium in an international friendly last night ar Wembley and Man City defender John Stones suffered a problem. Gareth Southgate has also defended his decision to select him on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old sustained an ‘adductor problem’ at Wembley Stadium. He was given another start in central defence, this time partnering Lewis Dunk.
Stones played a full 90 minutes for England in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Brazil. But, last night’s appearance lasted for just 10 minutes. He signalled to be withdrawn after jarring his leg when attempting to retrieve the ball.
England teammate Kyle Walker lasted just 19 minutes against Brazil after tweaking his hamstring. Both players are in doubt against Arsenal. Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish (both groin) and Ederson (muscle) are already sidelined for the Premier League showdown.
Gareth Southgate soeajs, as quoted by The Athletic: “Well, no, the first game – we measure everything – the first game for him wasn’t a game that was a high level in terms of the intensity.
“We’ve done exactly what Holland did with Virgil van Dijk tonight, what Norway did with [Erling] Haaland and [Martin] Odegaard, starting them again, Holland also started [Nathan] Ake again.
“So it only ever seems to fall on us when there’s a question around that. Of course, we’re disappointed if he’s got a problem, it seems to be in the adductor area, so we just have to see.
“John also came in on the back of not having played for two weeks, so it’s not that it’s an overload situation. But I hate sending players back to their clubs if they’re not fully fit.”
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