Only Jones missing as England gear up

Gareth Southgate put his England squad through their paces yesterday with Phil Jones the only unexpected absentee ahead of the friendly against Nigeria.

The Three Lions play their first World Cup warm-up match at Wembley today as Southgate begins to finalise his plans for the tournament.

Jones missed out as he left the camp to attend the birth of his child. The Manchester United man is also set to sit out today’s game.

Adam Lallana trained with the squad on Thursday and was again present yesterday. The Liverpool midfielder is on the standby list after overcoming a hamstring injury.

Lallana is set to remain behind when England jet off to Russia, but Southgate is clearly a fan: the player is close to a place in the squad despite starting just one Premier League game in an injuryhit campaign.

“I’ve had continual dialogue with Adam throughout the season, close and personal conversations,” Southgate said at his squad unveiling.

“It has been a frustrating season for him. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t be anywhere near the squad, but he is a player we have a lot of time for.”

Liverpool colleagues Jordan Henderson and Trent AlexanderArnold will link up with the squad today as expected following their Champions League final appearances.

The squad seemed in good spirits as they trained in the grounds of the Grove hotel.

Most of the media cameras present for the opening section of the training session were trained on Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling.

The 23-year-old has been under intense scrutiny during the past week after it emerged he had a controversial tattoo of a gun on his right leg.

Sterling explained the new ink in an Instagram post, revealing it is a tribute to his late father.

“When I was 2 my father died from being gunned down to death I made a promise to myself I would never touch a gun in my life time, I shoot with my right foot so it has a deeper meaning N still unfinished,” he wrote.

The Football Association has supported Sterling since The Sun’s front page on Tuesday.

The player trained in shorts, with the tattoo on display.

Picture: PA. Phil Jones missed England training.