The manager said of Marc Guéhi, who represented England twice during the international break: “He’s likely to miss the game.
“It’s a problem that we think can be easily managed, or he isn’t unduly worried about, but the game has come too soon unfortunately. Had we had ten days, or even four or five we might have got him fit, but I’m afraid the day’s training he’s done today wasn’t enough time.
“It’s a fairly minor thing. It was just that the impact injury caused it to flare up a little bit has meant he can’t play in this game. It’s not something that’s occurred because he’s trained and played two matches with England. It’s because, in the game against Scotland, he jarred his hip and that has unfortunately exacerbated this minor problem he plays with every week.”
Discussing cover for Guéhi, Hodgson noted: “The fact is we have five centre-backs at the club. Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi have done very well and we have James Tomkins, who unfortunately is suffering from a minor injury, so he won’t be available.
"We have Chris Richards, the American international, and then we have Rob Holding. We’re happy he’s settled in as quickly and as well as he has done. I think he’s going to be a very useful addition to our squad. You’ll have to wait and see if he’s among the starters or the substitutes.”
"We have players who can cover Marc Guéhi’s injury, albeit we’re sad to lose him because he’s a key member of our starting XI by choice.”
Hodgson also discussed Jefferson Lerma: “Lerma’s injured too. He’s had a scan this morning so I can’t give any details, but it’s to do with his hamstring. I don’t know how serious that is either.
“He played two times 90 minute and travelled first to Colombia, then to Chile and then to England. He didn’t arrive back until reasonably late on Thursday morning. He made his way straight to the training ground here to see the medical staff and report the fact that he felt a slight problem in his hamstring. Today, he’s gone for the scan.
“I’m hoping that will also be more the result of two times 90 minutes and the travelling involved, and that’s the risk you take when you decide you want a South American international player in your squad.
“We do the same with African players. We want them in our squad and we like them as players. We have to accept when they go away to play, their journey times and the problems related to their journeys are much worse than they are for the Europeans.”