Danny Drinkwater will be among the seven key English players who are set to miss the upcoming high profile friendlies. The Chelsea midfielder featured in his club's last weekend 1-0 victory over Manchester United. England manager Gareth Southgate confirmed to BBC Radio 5 Live that the combative midfielder is injured and cannot play. The manager further reiterated that he's not the kind of managers who risk players but he instead engages players in discussion to know how much risk his players are willing to take.
Danny Drinkwater joined Chelsea from Leicester City on the final day of the summer transfer of this season, but the thigh injury had kept him from featuring for his new club until when October was concluding.
Danny Drinkwater made his debut for Chelsea in the 2-1 victory over Everton in League Cup where he played for an hour before he was substituted with Cesc Fabregas.
Key friendly matches
After confirming the trip to 2018 World Cup in Russia, the Three Lions have arranged for two friendly matches in this international break. Gareth Southgate's men will be hosting the reigning world champions, Germany on Friday before making a long trip to Brazil in the coming Tuesday.
Apart from being the world champions, the Germans are also the Confederation Cup winners. The last time England met Germany, a section of English supporters were heard booing the German National Anthem and making chants relating to the World War Two.
In fact, the conduct prompted the Football Association to hand two supporters lifetime bans for making anti-German gestures.
In a rejoinder to conduct of some England fans, Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke termed the event as "inappropriate, disrespectful, and disappointing." England manager Gareth Southgate has confirmed that both the German and English players will be wearing black armbands with poppies for the event.
Brazil will be destination English players will be gearing up for after the German test. The Shamba boys hosted last summers World Cup in which Germany humiliated the hosts with the 7-1 demolition in the semi-finals. Brazil ended up losing 3-0 to the Netherlands in the third-place playoff to finish fourth in the tournament.
However, Brazil remains the most decorated national side after winning a record five World Cup crowns.
It's clear that the Three Lions were only targeting top national sides as the European nation gets ready for next year's summer contest in Russia. England has just managed to clinch World Cup once, and 1968 World champions have found recent World Cups hectic with the Three Lions being eliminated in the group stages in the last event.
Other English players missing
Danny Drinkwater has featured for England only on only three occasions with his debut in the national shirt coming against the Netherlands in 2016. It's in the England U19 where Drinkwater featured twelve times, but his only goal in English jersey came against Ghana in the 2-0 victory while representing England U18.
However, the former Leicester City player was unfortunate after falling among the three players who were removed from the final selection team that represented England in the UEFA Euro 2016.
It's not only the Manchester United academy graduate who will be missing out as the Three Lions face the Germans. Other players set to miss the game after pulling out with various injuries are Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, and Harry Winks. However, Tottenham Hotspurs manager Mauricio Pochetino confirmed that Harry Kane was well and would face Arsenal in the North London derby when the Premier League resumes.
