Man City and Man Utd handed injury concerns as duo leave England duty

Manchester City and Manchester United are sweating on the fitness of two key players ahead of next weekend's return to Premier League action.

City are preparing for what will be a crunch week in their bid to retain their Premier League title as they host leaders Arsenal and fourth placed Aston Villa in the space of four days. Pep Guardiola's plans for both games could have been hampered by the news versatile defender Kyle Walker has withdrawn from the England squad ahead of Tuesday night's friendly with Belgium after picking up what appeared to be a hamstring strain in the weekend defeat against Brazil.

England manager Gareth Southgate said of Walker's injury: “We don’t know (the severity). He’s not had many injuries, so he himself isn’t sure whether it’s just tightness. I suspect if he’s feeling it, it’s a little bit more than that but we’ll know a bit more over the next 24, 36 hours.”

Erik ten Hag is also awaiting news on the fitness of a key defender after Harry Maguire returned to United after picking up an injury in the Brazil loss and his fitness will be monitored ahead of Saturday night's visit to Brentford.

Southgate has taken the surprising step of adding two new players to his squad for the meeting with Belgium as City youngster Rico Lewis has been handed a chance to add to his one England cap. Former City academy goalkeeper James Trafford has also been called up - although he is not expected to feature in the game.

One player that could feature once again is City star Phil Foden after Southgate discussed his performance in Saturday's defeat against Brazil.

He said: “I think at moments we saw that (quality shown at City). We’ve several players missing, so some of the combinations are different, some of the interplay is different.

"I thought him and Jude (Bellingham) at times in the first half combined well. But, again, he’s also playing against a high-level side. We’re not dominating 75 per cent of the ball, which at times is the case with his club. It’s a different sort of a challenge, but I wasn’t unhappy with Phil’s performance.”