Gareth Southgate has suffered a severe blow to his England squad, as West Ham forward Michail Antonio has been forced to withdraw from the upcoming clashes with Germany and Lithuania after picking up a hamstring injury during Saturday's 3-2 defeat to Leicester City.
Triple blow
Antonio has had yet another excellent season for the Hammers, with the 26-year-old stepping into the shadow of Dimitri Payet currently sitting as the club's top scorer so far in the current campaign with nine league goals.
His efforts have already been rewarded on a international stage already this season, having already received two call-up's, but he ha failed to make an appearance in either of those international breaks.
The former Nottingham Forest man played the full 90 minutes in Saturdays' narrow defeat to Craig Shakespeare's men, but after being assessed by both West Ham and England medical teams, the decision has been made to withdraw the winger from Southgate's first squad as permanent manager and won't be replaced.
A West Ham United statement read: "Michail Antonio was withdrawn from the squad after being assessed by both the Hammers' and the England medical teams and will remain at Rush Green during the international break."
This is one injury of a triple blow to Slaven Bilic's squad, with Pedro Obiang and Winston Reid picking up injuries in Saturday's defeat. It is rumoured that Reid will be out for around 4-6 weeks with a scan coming up in the week on his supposed adductor injury, while it is expected to be the end of Obiang's season after been stretchered off after appearing to roll his ankle.
Chance to get more game time
Those injuries could prove to be quite the selection headache for the Croatian, but could also open opportunities for players to receive more game time and one of those looking to take advantage of that is full-back Sam Byram.
Byram only completed his fourth 90 minutes in Saturday's defeat which was also his first appearance for the side since February 1, but the 23-year-old did himself no harm with a eye-catching performance and he stated that he is looking for more opportunities going into the final leg of the season.
“I try to stay off social media as much as I can and just focus on myself in training," Byram admitted to West Ham TV. "And how I can make myself better and help the team.”
“I’ve said ever since I’ve been here," he stressed to the club's channel. "That I want to improve and keep getting better."
“It’s nice for me to get a start and get some fitness," the full-back stated after Saturday's clash. "Which is what I’ve needed."
"I think you can train as much as you want but to get match fitness," Byram concluded. "You want to play, so hopefully I can get games in and keep impressing.”