{"id":222,"date":"2026-03-31T11:01:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=222"},"modified":"2026-03-31T11:01:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:01:45","slug":"arsenal-tuchel-reveals-injury-updates-on-rice-saka-after-england-withdrawals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=222","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal: Tuchel reveals injury updates on Rice, Saka after England withdrawals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div><!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p>Head coach Thomas Tuchel has revealed an update on Arsenal pair Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka after they withdrew from the England squad.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It emerged over the weekend that Rice, Saka and Noni Madueke have withdrawn from the England squad<\/strong> and will not be in contention to face Japan at Wembley on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>When these three withdrawals were announced, it was noted that they would return to <strong>Arsenal<\/strong> for further \u201cmedical assessments\u201d and it remains to be seen whether they will feature against Southampton in the FA Cup this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Rice and Saka were not involved in the 1-1 draw against Uruguay on Friday, but <strong>Tuchel<\/strong> confirmed on Monday that they have returned to Arsenal after feeling \u201cdiscomfort\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey wanted desperately to play to get the narrative straight, but it made no sense to take the risk,\u201d Tuchel said at his pre-match press conference.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ: \u2018Typical England\u2019 flatter to deceive \u2013 so why can\u2019t they reproduce club form for the Three Lions?<br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it was the last game of the season we would have kept them, but in this moment of the season it did not make sense. The risk for making it was way too big.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were both clearly in discomfort when we did the medical assessment. It made absolutely no sense that they stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Madueke started against Uruguay but was forced off with a knee injury and was later seen wearing a cast, and Tuchel explained why he is not \u201cangry\u201d at those players who have withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt helps them go back to clubs and perform. We want them to perform in their clubs, but it is also our last camp before America, so we want to reconnect to our principles. I\u2019m not upset or angry with the players,\u201d Tuchel added.<\/p>\n<p><smartframe-embed customer-id=\"c78749ece7fd074ea5dc1889e7c53f0f\" image-id=\"esmeJfPiqrZS\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE: England vs Japan predictions, team news, lineups and odds<br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got the feeling that everyone was desperate to come. Some of the injured players even stayed to do their treatment, that shows they want to be around the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one left straight away, it\u2019s a good spirit and that\u2019s how it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking generally on the injuries he has had to deal with in this camp, Tuchel admitted that this \u201cdisappointing\u201d situation is the \u201creality\u201d for managers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDisappointed but not with the players, with the fact we want to have everyone in good spirits and health,\u201d Tuchel continued.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: Ben White joins Three Lions legends among 10 stars booed by England fans<br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the reality of end of the season and the end March, the reality of having payers in European matches and more than just one competition with all the cups going on. That\u2019s the reality of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have players in camp that have already played more minutes than last season, so there is some concern.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe players needed and deserved the mental break from football. We could see the energy with which they came back into camp and to reconnect now in the new environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want them to perform in their clubs but the reality is it\u2019s our last camp before we leave to America, so we want to reconnect to our principles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing but I\u2019m not upset with the players, I\u2019m not angry. Some of the injured players even stayed and started their treatment here. Had another dinner, another night, another breakfast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone was more affected to leave than being able to stay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will have a strong team tomorrow. Today everyone is in training \u2013 full choice. We have some fresh legs back so excited for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End --><\/div>\n<p><script>\n        !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n        {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n        n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n        if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n        n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n        t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n        'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n        fbq('init', '1399787394855675');\n        fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    <\/script><script>\n        !function(e,n,t){var o=e.getElementsByTagName(n)(0);e.getElementById\n    <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Head coach Thomas Tuchel has revealed an update on Arsenal pair Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka after they withdrew from the England squad. It emerged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}