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Gareth Southgate hopeful captain Harry Kane will return to England line-up against Denmark

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been Kane’s replacement up top in the two games this international break

Karl Matchett
Monday 12 October 2020 09:59 BST
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England captain Harry Kane
England captain Harry Kane

Gareth Southgate is in monitor mode over two of his captaincy options ahead of the Nations League game with Denmark on Wednesday.

Harry Kane, the regular skipper, only appeared as a second-half substitute in the 2-1 win over Belgium at the weekend, after suffering from muscle fatigue following a heavy opening schedule with Tottenham.

Jordan Henderson, meanwhile, has had his start to the campaign at Liverpool interrupted by injury and made his first appearance in three weeks at Wembley.

“We’re hoping that Harry, that progression tonight, I think he’ll get more confidence from that so we’ll have to assess both him and Jordan,” Southgate said, per ESPN.

“But certainly Harry should be able to play more minutes.

“Jordan is a little bit more complicated because with his club, he had 60 in his first match then 45 the following week so we are going to have to assess him very carefully.”

The other regular option who has not yet featured heavily is Ben Chilwell, who has been ill.

In his absence, Kieran Trippier performed well at left wing-back, but in contrast to the right side of the pitch where England have a plethora of options, the left flank appears to have far fewer natural choices.

The manager is hopeful that Chilwell is another who is on the road to recovery, though, with the fourth group game in mind.

“Ben reported to the hotel today. He did a training session on his own. He hasn’t been able to train through the week. So, there’s a little bit of assessment needed over the next couple of days but he is with the group now.”

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