Tuchel sent firm England warning over 'foolish' Rice decision

View 2 Images

Thomas Tuchel has been told it would be "foolish" to play

Declan Rice

against

Norway

if the England midfielder is still nursing his injury issue.

As things stand the

Arsenal

star is already a doubt for the Norway clash as he's dealing with sickness, but throughout the tournament he's been managing a hamstring issue.

Rice was seen with an icepack on his left hamstring during the latter stages of the 2-1 win against

DR Congo

in the last 32. Tuchel confessed that Rice was playing with "terrible pain" but he was able to last the full 90 minutes in England’s 3-2 victory over

Mexico

last Sunday.

Rice has been managing a hamstring problem since

Christmas

but continued to play a key role for Arsenal during their

Premier League

success last season - but Pearce insists a long-term view needs to be taken.

He said on

talkSport

: "The only thing that might be a consideration to him [Tuchel] is the injury… a concern that’s been with him [Rice] for a few games."

Pearce also added: "Is that going to do him more damage and is he likely to break down? If there is a risk there, I think you’d be foolish as a manager to play him."

This week Rice has already missed two days of training due to his sickness bug and he has been isolated from his England teammates so the illness from spreading across the squad

He is not the only concern and England defender Marc Guehi will be assessed on Friday to see if he is fit enough to play in Saturday's clash against Norway. He has a slight hamstring injury. The

Manchester City

star is desperate to prove his fitness and remains optimistic he can be involved.

In more positive news right-back

Reece James

returned to training as expected on Thursday and is in contention for the quarter-final, which is especially timely after Jarrel Quansah was given a two-game ban after his red card against Mexico. He was one of the few remaining players capable of operating at right-back.