ENGLAND DUO TO MISS QUALIFIER

The Three Lions of England duo of Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka are expected to miss out on the start of the qualifiers ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar next year as they continue to struggle with injury.

Rashford and Saka won't be risked when England face minnows San Marino on Thursday night in what's the first game of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers for the two teams. Rashford picked up an injury in the Europa League round of 16 second leg clash at AC Milan last week amd the injury forced him to miss the FA Cup elimination at the hands of hosts Leicester City at the weekend.

Manchester United were able to book their place in the Europa League quarterfinals at the expense of Milan after a 1-0 away win in the second leg for a 2-1 aggregate win before they were dumped out of the FA Cup by the Foxes at the quarterfinal stage via a 3-1 win. Rashford missed that FA Cup game at the King Power Stadium and he has been rated as doubtful for the game by the England officials. To this effect, Rashford won't be risked for the San Marino game with England expected to win convincingly even without some of their key players.

Arsenal attacker Saka will also miss the San Marino game as he has not joined up with the England national team. The 19-year-old is nursing a hamstring injury and he has stayed back with the Gunners in a bid to get himself fit. He's expected to link up with his England teammates for the next two qualifiers after the San Marino game at the Wembley Stadium on Thursday night. England will travel to take on Albania at the weekend in their second World Cup qualifier before the crucial home clash with Robert Lewandowski and Poland next week.