Arsenal’s Premier League title-winning quartet have linked up with the Three Lions, with sights on World Cup glory
Arsenal quartet Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke have linked up with the England squad as World Cup preparations intensify. The Gunners’ contingent were afforded additional rest following their involvement in the Champions League final.
Arsenal endured a devastating defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest, falling at the penalty shootout stage. However, there was little opportunity to dwell on the disappointment, with the squad participating in a trophy parade the following day to mark their Premier League triumph.
The Gunners beat Man City to the title, ending a 22-year drought since last lifting the trophy. Attention now turns to international glory for those involved in this summer’s World Cup.
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England got their warm-up campaign underway on Saturday, claiming a narrow 1-0 victory over New Zealand in Tampa. Despite fielding two entirely different line-ups across both halves, Thomas Tuchel was forced to manage without Rice, Saka, Eze and Madueke throughout the fixture.
The official England social media channels have since confirmed the Arsenal contingent’s arrival at the national team’s base. Images of the players being welcomed by their international colleagues were shared alongside a message reading: “Reunited. Our four Arsenal players have joined up with the Three Lions in Florida.”
The four Arsenal will be available for the second and final warm-up match against Costa Rica on Wednesday night (9pm BST kick-off). They will be hoping to impress ahead of the first group game vs Croatia a week later.
The other group games see England take on Ghana (23 June, 9pm BST kick-off) and Panama (27 June, 10pm BST kick-off).
Eze will return to England duty after missing a crucial penalty in the Champions League final shootout for Arsenal. But manager Tuchel has said that his teammates will make sure he is ok.
“Of course it’s painful for Ebs but of course I will take care of it, the group will take care of him and I think the extra week they had will help a lot,” he said.
“I’m very happy that they got the title in England. I think that took a lot of weight off their shoulders and they were aware they did what they could and they were very close in the final.
“I don’t think I will need to lift them. They’ve absolutely had a great season. I’m always happy to do it if I have to but they should know that a final just comes down to one or two shots in a penalty shoot-out which means it cannot be closer. At some point a winner has to be found.
“I have lost some finals in a penalty shoot-out, and it’s the closest way to lose, and it hurts, of course, it hurts a lot to lose big finals, but a penalty means you did everything right, it couldn’t be closer.
“But it also means you were absolutely on the same level with maybe the best team in the world at the moment.”
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