\n<\/p>\n
With absolutely nothing of interest at all happening in the Premier League or Europe, it is surely time to turn attention to being miserable about England\u2019s prospects this summer.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re already quite down on this World Cup anyway for these reasons and more<\/strong>with the sheer scale of the rip-off and the fact that throwing the unquestioning weight of the world\u2019s game behind Donald Trump has somehow managed to become an even worse-looking idea than it was at the time \u2013 which was very bad indeed \u2013 only adding to that.<\/p>\n But we can also be down on England as well, can\u2019t we? Because to watch Declan Rice recently is to be reminded that he is paramount importance to England \u2013 see March for further evidence \u2013 and has been flogged into submission this season already, with its most harrowing days and weeks very likely still ahead.<\/p>\n And he\u2019s not the only one.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n He\u2019s going to be a physical and emotional wreck, isn\u2019t he? If this season ends the way it really looks like it might now end?<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the amount of football Rice has played \u2013 which is nevertheless loads \u2013 but the manner in which he plays. Rice is such an asset precisely because he marries consummate skill with classic English attributes of running around a lot and pashun and commitment and wearing his heart on his sleeve and performatively responding to a devastating setback by so clearly mouthing the words \u201cit\u2019s not done\u201d that he might as well have just said \u201cthis does not slip\u201d directly into a camera and had done with it.<\/p>\n But it is also the amount of football from a man who Arteta has seen fit to fully Saka this season. He has started all but two of Arsenal\u2019s Premier League games this season. He missed one through injury and got to spend the first three-quarters of the Forest game back in September on the bench.<\/p>\n The other 31 he has started and generally finished. More or less anyway. Of those 31 starts, the earliest he\u2019s been withdrawn has been the 76th minute.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also played 10 of Arsenal\u2019s 12 Champions League games \u2013 presumably getting himself suspended for the Kairat Almaty game as some kind of cry for help \u2013 played at least some part (albeit often brief until the semi-finals) in every round of the Carabao. He did get the FA Cup off, at least.<\/p>\n Played at least an hour of every England game across the September, October and November international breaks before getting a much-needed rest for the March games which only served to highlight just how vital it is that he is there this summer.<\/p>\n Has been playing through illness recently and still churning out 90 minutes on the regular. You do fear that by summer he simply won\u2019t have anything left in the tank.<\/p>\n Still, at least his midfield partner should be able to take up some of the sla\u2026 oh, wait, no. He\u2019s knackered as well.<\/p>\n Forest did at least avoid Arsenal\u2019s mistake of having unsuccessful but sizeable domestic cup runs, and Anderson himself has had the foresight to get himself suspended here and there in the Europa League and bag a bit of rest.<\/p>\n Only three outfield players have missed less Premier League football this season than Anderson, who has been given a grand total of 15 minutes\u2019 respite across Forest\u2019s 33 games. Two of those are James Garner and Jarrod Bowen, who have had no European commitments, and the other is the entirely ridiculous Virgil van Dijk, who somehow still insists on playing all of the minutes. But, in truth, could probably have done with a bit of time off himself at some point.<\/p>\n READ: Are Man Utd being fooled by Elliot Anderson\u2019s energy over excellence?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n And just 30 minutes behind Anderson on that Premier League list comes Morgan Rogers, for whom 25 of his 45 minutes off in the Premier League have come in the last month.<\/p>\n It\u2019s another potential consideration in a battle he will surely lose for the starting No. 10 spot against Jude Bellingham, who is more lightly raced and remains, despite the tabloid insistence to the contrary, a better footballer.<\/p>\n The good news here at least is that Rogers is surely likely to be stood down from at least some Premier League football over the run-in. Villa are surely safe now in the top five and will surely turn at least some more focus to winning the Europa League. A couple of weekends where Rogers gets the luxury of mere 20-minute cameos would certainly be welcome.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Not just England\u2019s starting midfield that could be feeling it by summer. The starting centre-backs haven\u2019t had much time off either.<\/p>\n Not sure the game Konsa missed through suspension during Villa\u2019s now unthinkably bleak August is really going to count for much now given he\u2019s played every single minute of all but one Premier League game since as well as a pretty hefty Thursday night workload.<\/p>\n Villa, like Forest, were at least shrewd enough to keep their domestic cup commitments somewhere close to the bare minimum. Sure, they did beat Spurs in the FA Cup third round but it has been incredibly hard not to beat Spurs this year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n But it\u2019s Guehi we might be more worried about of the two. First because of status. It does feel like, while this is the starting pair now in a post-Stones-and-Maguire world, Guehi is the leader of that defence.<\/p>\n He is the one who has stepped up to take leadership in the group. And he\u2019s also had upheaval at club level, with his aborted summer move to Liverpool followed by an actual move to Manchester City that has been tremendously successful but has brought with it new stresses and pressures.<\/p>\n And possibly a domestic treble. That\u2019s lovely, of course, but there\u2019s no way this season can\u2019t have taken a toll given the on-field endeavour and off-field whirlwind.<\/p>\n Especially on the back of pretty much a 4000-minute season in 24\/25 that would have had a couple of hundred more minutes on top had he not suffered that eye injury during the FA Cup final.<\/p>\n READ NEXT<\/strong>: Five England players who could be in the Goldilocks sweet spot come the World Cup<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div>\nDeclan Rice<\/h2>\n
Elliot Anderson<\/h2>\n
Morgan Rogers<\/h2>\n
Ezri Konsa<\/h2>\n
Marc Guehi<\/h2>\n