England star immediately leaves camp as Thomas Tuchel suffers injury blow

England manager Thomas Tuchel has lost a player ahead of the final World Cup qualifier against Albania, with Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi returning to his club

Marc Guehi has left England's training camp in the build-up to their World Cup qualifier against Albania. Guehi picked up an injury while playing for Crystal Palace and wasn't involved in their 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday night at Wembley.

He has left Thomas Tuchel's squad and will instead continue his rehabilitation for the foot injury with Palace. The Palace defender had been hoping to get fit in time for Sunday's game in Tirana, but has decided to leave his team-mates at Tottenham's training ground in order to recover with his club side.

Speaking before the Serbia win, Tuchel explained the situation with the centre-back. “Everybody is in training in the afternoon except for Marc Guehi,” he said. “With Marc it is very painful but there is no structural damage so it is all about the pain.

“There is the possibility that from one day to the other there is a significant improvement so we are working realistically towards the second game. If he is not in training on Friday and not able to train on Saturday then we will not make him travel with us and he will of course get rest and treatment.

“We want him to stay with us, want him to stay close. He is one of the leaders, he is an important member of the team. He is glue between many players and it is nice to see that he is trying everything to be included in the second game. We will assess him every day.”

Guehi was injured in Palace’s 3-1 Conference League win over AZ Alkmaar last week and missed their Premier League game against Brighton on the weekend. Oliver Glasner said that his captain “can't even walk”, sparking fears of a serious injury, but Tuchel allayed those fears before the Serbia game. He will now focus on getting fit for Palace's next game in the Premier League against Wolves on November 22.

It is not the first injury Tuchel has been forced to deal with for the November international break. Trevoh Chalobah was called up to the squad to provide cover for Guehi and joined James Trafford in replacing injured Newcastle duo Anthony Gordon and Nick Pope.

Although England have already qualified for the World Cup and have a perfect record, without having conceded a goal so far, the Albania game in Tirana on Sunday is a chance for other players to stake their claim for next summer's tournament.

"Nobody wants injuries to happen but injuries can happen, players can pull out, players can drop in form and others can have form so I am very much open," Tuchel said before the Serbia game, which was won thanks to goals from Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze.

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