Friday 27 May 2016 08:17, UK
England manager Roy Hodgson has confirmed Marcus Rashford will make his debut against Australia and will start if Daniel Sturridge is not fit to feature.
The 18-year-old has impressed since breaking into the United first team this season and could be offered the opportunity to push his claims for a Euro 2016 squad place at the Stadium of Light on Friday.
Wayne Rooney will not start against Australia and Chelsea centre-back Gary Cahill has had another injection in his hip and will miss out but Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster will get the nod to start on Wearside.
Hodgson also revealed Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph is struggling with a groin injury that is likely to rule him out of this summer's tournament in France.
Sturridge will be assessed on the day of the game to ascertain the extent of his calf injury that forced him to miss training on Wednesday and Thursday.
"He has had a calf strain since he joined up with us," Hodgson said of the Liverpool striker in his pre-match news conference.
"We've been hoping it will get better, we shall see tomorrow [Friday] morning whether there has been any improvement.
"We're waiting on him and I can't give you any more information than that. We'll see tomorrow and if he reports fit, I'd want him to play in the game and if he isn't fit he won't be able to."
Hodgson started with Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy in attack for the 2-1 friendly win over Turkey at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday and confirmed he is trying to give some game time to his other attacking options.
"If Sturridge isn't fit tomorrow then I think you'll all work out he (Rashford) is going to start the game. I'm happy with that, I'm more than content he can handle the situation," added Hodgson.
"It doesn't take a lot of detective work to work that out, with me wanting to rest Vardy and Kane. There was no doubt that my original intention was to choose between Sturridge, Rashford and possibly one other.
"With those two out, it's pretty obvious Rashford is going to play a serious part in the game."
Hodgson has refused to completely rule anyone out of his final 23-man squad for Euro 2016, insisting circumstances could change in the final two warm-up matches against Australia and Portugal.
"As far as the 23 is concerned, it's very simple. I shall leave it as long as I possibly can," added Hodgson.
"A lot of things can happen in football on a day-to-day basis. We have a match to play and matches sometimes give you injury situations. We hope not, but they sometimes do, and training situations, which sometimes do.
"So there's absolutely no reason for me to start talking about who will go and who may not go until it's absolutely necessary.
"I have until midnight on Tuesday until which time I shall try and keep my powder dry and avoid that very unpleasant situation where you tell someone at an early stage you're not really in my thinking and then have to go back to him and say you are."
