England are training without two key players ahead of Slovakia in the last 16

England trained without Declan Rice and Kieran Trippier on Thursday, three days before the Three Lions face Slovakia in the Euro 2024 final.

Rice played every minute of the group stage, while Trippier almost went the same distance until he was withdrawn shortly before the end of the 0-0 draw with Slovenia on matchday three.

It may be too soon to consider Slovakia's conflict as dubious. While the rest of the team, with the exception of Phil Foden – who has returned home for the birth of his third child, trained in outdoor fields in England, Rice and Trippier stayed at home to work on their plans.

Journalist Henry Winter described what they do as “carrying a load”.

Rice has been critical in England since switching allegiance to Ireland in 2019. He teamed up with Trent Alexander-Arnold during the team's first games, in what has been one of the biggest talking points around the club this summer.

With Slovenia's draw, Gareth Southgate chose to replace Alexander-Arnold, who did not finish a single match last season, with Conor Gallagher. The fans were impressed by the arrival of Kobbie Mainoo playing against Slovenia, while Adam Wharton has not entered the field in this tournament.

With England failing to dominate the games played so far, all eyes will be on Southgate's selection in midfield come Sunday and it will cause a huge headache if Rice is unavailable.

Trippier was England's left-back in Germany, while Luke Shaw is struggling to recover from a long-term injury. But the Manchester United player took part in a senior team training session on Thursday and has been around for the past few days.

Whether Shaw will be fit enough to start against Slovakia after his last appearance for Manchester United on 18 February – more than four months ago – remains to be seen. Versatile defender Joe Gomez is another left-back option available to Southgate.

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