Rice will need to wait for England cap

Declan Rice will need to wait patiently on the bench this evening at Wembley as England play the Czech Republic.

He receives a cap if he arrives as a sub at any time but he is likely perhaps to have to sit this one out.

He could yet get the call for an injury or tactical reasons but manager Gareth Southgate has obviously decided to err on the side of caution for tonight’s big game which is being shown on ITV1 from 7 pm.

It could be the manager decided after the controversy of yesterday when some ancient quotes were circulated on social media to keep the pressure off the 20-year-old.

But that’s not really Southgate’s style and all Hammers fans inside and outside the stadium will be keeping their fingers crossed that Dec appears on the pitch at some point during the 90 minutes.

England team to play the Czech Republic: Pickford, Walker, Keane, Maguire, Chilwell, Henderson, Dier, Sancho, Alli, Sterling, Kane.

Kick Off is 7.45 pm