Roy Hodgson has voiced fears that a sickness virus could badly hit England's squad prior to Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine after being forced to send a 'violently ill' Theo Walcott home on Monday.
Roy Hodgson has voiced fears that a sickness virus could badly hit England's squad prior to tonight's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine after being forced to send a "violently ill" Theo Walcott home on Monday.
With Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge also isolated from the rest of the squad after complaining of stomach cramps, manager Hodgson drafted in youngsters Jake Livermore, Adam Lallana and 17-year-old Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling to ensure England have enough fit players to fill the substitutes' bench at Wembley tonight.
Walcott's return to Arsenal increased the withdrawal list to 10 since Hodgson named his initial squad for the Group H qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine last month.
But with Walcott's deterioration so swift following his participation in training on Sunday, Hodgson admits he is concerned that further players could succumb to the bug before kick-off.
"Theo has picked up some sort of virus," Hodgson said. "He was quite violently ill. He trained fully Sunday and was as fit as a fiddle, then he was violently sick this morning and had to be sent home.
"Daniel Sturridge trained on Sunday with stomach cramps but today woke up with the same stomach cramps, and the doctor advised us to keep him out of training and see how things are.
"The doctor is quite confident he will be OK, but I can only hope nothing is going around the squad. That was why we were quite keen to get Theo home as soon as possible and keep Daniel away from the squad.
"I have to hope it's just an isolated case with the two players. But we've brought in three players who interest us for the future, and that'll be a contingency plan and we'll fill our quote on the bench. That's the thinking."
Despite the loss of Walcott, following Andy Carroll's withdrawal 10 days ago, Hodgson has continued to overlook Stoke forward Peter Crouch.
The former Liverpool forward has scored 22 goals in 42 appearances for England and was also a transfer target of Hodgson during his time as Fulham manager.
But after Crouch rejected a place on the standby list for Euro 2012, Hodgson has made it clear that he will now look elsewhere unless the
31 year-old's form makes it impossible for him to be overlooked.
Hodgson said, "I'm not going to bring him in to fill up the bench. The day Crouch gets into an England squad is when I think he should be in the original 23. I've not dismissed anybody, even Peter Crouch."
John Terry's withdrawal from the squad as a result of an ankle injury sustained during Friday's 5-0 win against Moldova in Chisinau ensures that Hodgson will make one change to his team tonight, with Everton's Phil Jagielka expected to get the nod ahead of Chelsea defender Gary Cahill.
England captain Steven Gerrard will win his 98th cap tonight, 12 years after winning his first in a friendly against Ukraine at Wembley.
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