England team news: Kieran Trippier nursing calf injury ahead of Slovenia Euro 2024 clash

Kieran Trippier has been nursing a calf issue as he tries to avoid adding to Gareth Southgate’s England left-back crisis at the European Championship.

It is unclear whether or not the slight problem is related to the calf injury that interrupted his season with Newcastle United and at one stage threatened his participation in the Euros, but it is believed that Trippier has played with some pain in Germany.

Losing Trippier to injury would be a huge blow for Southgate, given the doubts over first-choice left-back Luke Shaw after he was not fit enough to make the bench against Denmark and has trained on his own in recent days.

Trippier, a natural right-back, has stood in at left-back while Shaw attempts to recover from the hamstring injury that has kept him out since February in time to play a part in the Euros.

It is understood that Southgate, the England manager, had hoped to give Trippier a rest by substituting him in at least one of the two opening Group C games against Serbia and Denmark to help preserve the 33-year-old’s fitness.

But England’s sluggish start to the tournament meant that Trippier had to play the full 90 minutes in each game, with Shaw already struggling to be fit to make an appearance from the bench against Slovenia on Tuesday night.

It is understood that Southgate has been managing Trippier’s fitness by swapping him in and out at left-back with Ezri Konsa and Joe Gomez during training sessions and the Newcastle star has been taking precautions to try to avoid re-injuring himself.

Trippier was seen drinking a shot of pickle juice during the victory over Serbia after going down with cramp, having not completed 90 minutes for his club or country since February before the Euros.

Southgate is planning to make changes for the Slovenia game, but may not be able to rest as many players as he would have liked had England already qualified as Group C winners.

England also drew the second game of their last two major tournaments, with Southgate making four changes to his starting line-up for the third and final group game on each occasion.

Konsa has impressed in training and may be first in line to replace Trippier, either from the start or the substitutes’ bench, if the stand-in left-back needs a rest.

Elsewhere, Conor Gallagher is competing with Kobbie Mainoo and Adam Wharton to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, while Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer are yet to play a single minute in the tournament despite their superb club form.