Sterling suffers again

RAHEEM STERLING was last night ruled out of England’s next two World Cup qualifiers with a calf injury.

Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend has been called up by interim boss Gareth Southgate as his replacement for the matches against Malta and Slovenia.

Townsend returns to the squad for the first time since the pre-Euro 2016 friendlies against Turkey and Australia.

Sterling, 21, has bounced back from a tough time at the Euros in which he called himself ‘The Hated One’, starring under new boss Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

He has scored five goals in 10 appearances this term.

No details were given by the FA of Sterling’s injury but it is not expected to keep him out of City’s game at home to Everton a week on Saturday.

Townsend will join the rest of the squad when they meet at St George’s Park today. The 25-year-old has been capped 11 times and scored three goals, but was not selected for Euro 2016. The ex-Tottenham star has played in all seven of Palace’s league games since joining from Newcastle for £13m in the summer. Southgate has now handed out six recalls, with Townsend joining Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Ryan Bertrand, Alex OxladeChamberlain and Glen Johnson. Stoke full-back Johnson, now 32, was last seen in an England shirt in the 2014 World Cup and came in after an injury to Liverpool right-back Nathaniel Clyne. Adam Lallana also misses out through injury, along with Danny Drinkwater, Harry Kane, Luke Shaw and Jack Butland.