Rooney ruled out of Estonia clash

England boss Roy Hodgson plans to assess his options in Lithuania after releasing five players from the squad for next week’s trip to Vilnius.

Dronfield-born Gary Cahill will captain England in Wayne Rooney’s injury inflicted absence for tonight’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia at Wembley.

The England manager is leaving behind Joe Hart who is fit to play in the tenth and final qualifier, as well as James Milner, Cahill, Rooney and Carrick.

Hodgson said: “Joe Hart is being left behind against his will because I want to see Jack Butland”.

Heaton is also awaiting his first global cap although he is unlikely to play any part in these two qualifiers.

It will be a cause for concern for Louis van Gaal, who is tasked with motivating his players following a disappointing loss at the hands of Arsenal, and will hope to have his captain back for their clash against Everton on 17 October, just after the ongoing global break.

Barkley created Theo Walcott’s 45th-minute opener in Friday’s Group E game at Wembley with a beautifully weighted pass and went close to adding a second with a couple of mazy runs and shots before Raheem Sterling got on the score-sheet late on.

Kane is in contention to lead the line in Lithuania on Tuesday but Hodgson could opt to experiment with his side now that England have not only qualified for next summer’s tournament in France but also secured a top seeding.

Meanwhile, the 26-year-old is more than willing to put an arm around Tottenham teenager Dele Alli, who has been called up for the first time after impressing Roy Hodgson with his early-season performances in midfield for Spurs. He’s capable of doing that, but we think he’s got more strings to his bow.

Speaking to ITV after the game, the manager said it had been “as we thought it would be”. He doesn’t feel he’s limited to a position. “Things like this give me great confidence moving forward”, Ings said. We knew it would be a hard 90 minutes and we would have to keep going.

“But that’s a coach’s job with a very talented young player with lots of ability, using that ability in the right moments”. It’s never been a problem. “That shows the faith I have in him“.

“I have had to wait my time”, Walcott said.

“I don’t understand the seeds”.

It’s not been an enjoyable campaign for Estonia when it comes to games played away from home. We did that quite well. I’m always there for him as I obviously was in the England squad at the early age of 17.