Bukayo Saka is ready to keep gambling on his fitness for the good of England’s World Cup campaign.
The Arsenal winger declared himself fit to feature in Wednesday’s Group L opener with Croatia in Dallas but is having a persistent Achilles problem managed by the FA.
Saka played through the pain during the run-in and Thomas Tuchel admitted last week that he was unable to train on consecutive days.
The 24-year-old put his body on the line for the Gunners as they closely monitored him through the end of the season.
‘As players, it’s the biggest gamble, especially if you’re not feeling your sharpest,’ Saka said.
‘You have the choice whether you don’t play or you put yourself out there knowing people are going to judge you the same.
Bukayo Saka (right) is set to earn his 50th international cap and will rotate with club team mate Noni Madueke on the right wing
‘I’m happy to take the gamble. It paid off, I’d say. I’m going to continue doing that. At the end of the day, people don’t really care how you’re feeling, they expect you to deliver.
‘But I am feeling a lot better than I did in March and I’m ready to go.’
Saka is set to earn his 50th international cap and will rotate with club team mate Noni Madueke on the right wing.
Saka added: ‘It’s quite unique because to have two players that play in the same position, to be as close as we are, I don’t really know how it works, but it does.
‘Noni is like my brother on and off the pitch. We push each other, we speak every day and we have that mutual respect and we want each other to do well.’
Meanwhile, centre half John Stones claimed that his own fitness worries are overplayed and an exclusion from Manchester City’s team was purely tactical by Pep Guardiola.
‘I was fit enough 100 per cent,’ Stones told ITV. ‘It comes down to various things, the manager and that’s something I can’t control.
‘He [Guardiola] knows how much I wanted to play, how much I wanted to be there and you can look at it in so many ways.’
