Wayne Rooney out of England qualifier against Estonia

According to the Guardian, the former Everton star will also not travel with the squad for their final qualifier against Lithuania on Monday (12 October), if he fails to recover sufficiently to play a part in the game on Friday.

England manager Roy Hodgson was already contemplating shifting Walcott from his wide position after watching him put in a superb display for Arsenal in a 3-0 win against Manchester United on Sunday.

Theo Walcott feels a better, stronger player for his long spell on the sidelines, with the England forward ready to fill in for all-time top scorer Wayne Rooney this week.

The Football Association had earlier confirmed that Rooney will attend the game against Estonia in order to collect a commemorative golden boot for breaking Bobby Charlton’s scoring record. “We’ve still got an very bad lot of work to do, an terrible lot of playing together to do, against good quality opposition who will test us out to the ultimate extent”, said Hodgson.

” I don’t really want to change anything in my game or the way I approach the game”, he said.

“Being Wayne, he always wants to represent his country”, the Arsenal attacker said.

Ings was called up to the England squad for the first time last week and was hoping to earn his first senior cap after an impressive start to his career at Anfield but he also missed training at St George’s Park today due to an ankle problem. He has scored just one goal though, and he is yet to register an assist.

Uncapped Liverpool forward Danny Ings and Swansea City midfielder Jonjo Shelvey are injury doubts, but Hodgson revealed that Rooney’s United team-mate Michael Carrick will anchor the midfield in the absence of the injured Jack Wilshere.

“But we don’t want to risk him tomorrow”.

Cahill said being captain would not change his game.

The England national team are sitting atop their group standings, nine points clear of second placed Switzerland, while Friday’s opponents Estonia are lying fourth with ten points, 14 fewer than Hodgson’s men.

When pushed to concede that racking up 10 qualifying wins would be a commendable feat, Hart remained unmoved, adding: “I don’t see it being that great an achievement unless we go on and do well in the tournament in the summer”.