Marcus Rashford: England star suffers World Cup injury setback ahead of opener

Rashford suffered a knee injury during a private game between members of the England squad at St George’s Park on Monday.

He was forced to miss the final training session in Russia with the game against Tunisia fast approaching.

The 20-year-old attempted to play down the knock on Twitter yesterday by suggesting he should be fit in time.

Rashford said: “Thanks for the messages I've been getting. Picked up a slight niggle but nothing to worry about #ThreeLions”

But the Manchester United striker has missed another training session in Russia, putting further doubts in whether he play against Tunisia.

Rashford made a strong case for a place in Southgate’s starting line-up during the final warm-up games for England ahead of the World Cup.

He made a cameo appearance against Nigeria off the bench before scoring a sensational long-range effort in the 2-0 win over Costa Rica.

This won’t be Rashford’s first major tournament with England, having been part of the squad that suffered a shock defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.

He only played a total of 21 minutes in the four games during the European Championships.

But he is expected to play a much bigger role for Southgate’s side in Russia.

Harry Kane will lead the line for England with Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Danny Welbeck, Jamie Vardy and Rashford all battling for a spot in behind the Tottenham forward.

Southgate looks likely to deploy a three-man defence with high-flying full-backs and two holding midfielders.