England defender Glen Johnson admits he is struggling with infected toe

Johnson: won't let toe stop him (Getty Images)

Liverpool's Glen Johnson has revealed that he is still playing with a toe infection and has been forced to resume antibiotics for a condition which is leaving his foot sore after games.

Roy Hodgson had been surprised to find that Johnson had been playing with injections for the infected toe when he included him in his squad, having not been informed of the fact by Liverpool. The England manager was relieved when the course of injections stopped but the problem, with Johnson's little toe, is persisting.

"For the last four games of the Premier League [season] I had a toe infection and was playing with three injections just to kill the pain," the 27-year-old full-back said. "I've been on antibiotics for pretty much five weeks now and it's still there but it's getting better.

"I came off them for five days and it got a lot worse, so I'm still on them. They're obviously doing something. It's still there but it's manageable. I'm training but it's generally sore after games. We're in a European Championship: I'm not going to let my little toe stop me. We've got two more games and I want to enjoy these moments and give it every effort I can."

Hodgson will be looking for Johnson to attack the right flank more against Sweden on Friday. "It's fair to say that as time went on we showed more signs that we could do that when we broke out with the ball," the manager said of Monday's match with France. "Glen Johnson made some good raiding runs down the right."