England's astonishing 17 injuries for France friendly: Key warm-up becomes an experiment

England manager Roy Hodgson has admitted that the side which plays against France at Wembley will bear little relation to his first choice XI.

A staggering 16 regular England squad members are out of contention, with Fabian Delph, Jamie Vardy and Michael Carrick all among the late injuries.

"This match would never have taken on the importance we were hoping because so many players are unavailable for the game," said Hodgson. "It will be a very young team, six players under the age of 22.

"I would have liked all the players that we are thinking of for the Euros to be available, and not gone too far down an experimental route, the way these two matches have panned out it is experimental from our point of view...

Arsenal lost Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, pictured left, to injury in a poor defeat to Sheffield Wednesday - PA Sport

"We are in a difficult situation in terms of not having a lot of players to choose from and we are playing against a very good team. With all these players missing, who we believe come March will be back in the fold and adding to the competition for a place in the 23, I didn't want to turn to an individual for one game who would not have a chance again in the future.

"That explains the inclusion of Jesse Lingard and when we lost Delph we turned to Ryan Mason, because we're pursuing a policy that we set out some time ago and we are trying to stay faithful to it."

The England injured XI

Here's our best XI of England's injured players - as you can see, it's a strong side. And there are several big calls made, with red-hot striker Jamie Vardy perhaps unlucky to be benched, with Theo Walcott and Daniel Sturridge getting the nod thanks to their proven international experience. The only real hole is at right-back, where we've got Leighton Baines filling in. Perhaps come the end of Tuesday night's match there will be a better alternative...

England's injuries: The full list

Theo Walcott

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Jack Wilshere

Jordan Henderson

Leighton Baines

Jamie Vardy

Michael Carrick

Fabian Delph

James Milner

Daniel Sturridge

Danny Ings

Phil Jagielka

Danny Welbeck

Chris Smalling

Luke Shaw

Fraser Forster

Ben Foster

 

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