Danny Welbeck the ninth England player to pull out ahead of Italy clash

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Danny Welbeck has become the ninth player to withdraw from England duty ahead of the Three Lions trip to Turin to face Italy.

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The Arsenal striker starred against Lithuania on Friday night scoring a goal, setting up another and winning the Man of the Match gong before sustaining a knee injury in the second half.

And according to the Daily Express, he had to be sent back to Arsenal on Saturday and will therefore be unavailable for selection against the Italians on Tuesday night.

This follows the similar England exits of Raheem Sterling, Leighton Baines and James Milner who have all returned to their respective clubs following the 4-0 Euro 2016 qualifier win which maintained England’s 100 per-cent record.

Sterling is nursing a toe problem whilst Milner had a knee issue himself so did not feature on Friday night.

And with Baines also absent the England boss Hodgson is set to recall Kieran Gibbs, Welbeck’s teammate, to the starting XI.

“We knew we were going to be losing Raheem Sterling who had an injection last night on an on-going injury and hopefully that will help him as we go forward,” said Roy Hodgson, reports the Daily Express.

“We have a problem with James Milner who had to leave, we decided to let Leighton Baines go home and of course we lost Danny Welbeck, who unfortunately picked up a slight knee injury [against Lithuania].

“So those four players won’t be with us going forward but it means a chance for the other guys in the squad to show what they can do.

“We are going to bring Ryan Bertrand in because with Leighton Baines gone we are now left with only one recognised left-back, which is Kieran Gibbs and we wanted two recognised left-backs for both games.”

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