Roberto Martínez has refused to rule out the possibility of making as many as 10 changes for the England game on Thursday and also insisted he will not give any consideration to whether some of his squad would especially like to face Gareth Southgate’s team because they play their club football in the Premier League.

It is understood that Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne have expressed a desire to retain their places in the team in Kaliningrad, partly because they are motivated by the prospect of coming up against club-mates and players that they know well from England. Martínez, however, is looking at the bigger picture, especially with Belgium already through to the last 16, and is not willing to risk any injuries or suspensions that could jeopardise their chances of progressing further in the tournament.

“We’re preparing for two games at the same time, for the England game and the next one as well,” Martínez said. The Belgium coach categorically ruled out picking any players on a booking, saying that it would be “very unprofessional” to go down that path, which in effect means that De Bruyne, Jan Vertonghen and Thomas Meunier will take no part in the England match. He also gave the impression that he would have no qualms whatsoever about changing every player apart from Thibaut Courtois, the goalkeeper, for Belgium’s final group game.

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Asked whether that was a possibility, Martínez responded: “It could be. If I was going to speak about every player, I think everyone deserves to play in the World Cup. So it’s more important for me to be able to give that opportunity and see how they can react on the pitch and how much they can contribute. Nobody has got a place guaranteed in this team at the moment. That’s the way we are looking at it. So it could be a possibility to do that, yes.”

Although Martínez reported that there was positive news on the injury front, with Romelu Lukaku undergoing a scan on his ankle that showed no damage, Dries Mertens and Hazard over the minor knocks that troubled them during the 5-2 win against Tunisia on Saturday, and Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen coming through two training sessions without any problems, the Belgium manager is not minded to take any chances over fitness or get caught up in any sideshow in relation to the Premier League.

Lukaku and Hazard would no doubt have relished the chance to play against England, as well as De Bruyne, yet Martínez said that he had no plans to make a special case for any of Belgium’s Premier League players and, explaining his thinking on that subject, stressed how everyone had to accept decisions need to be made “for the good of the team”.

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“I don’t think it’s about them,” the Belgium coach replied, when asked about the sizeable Premier League contingent within his squad. “The team objective is the only thing that matters. We’re not here for any personal objectives. We’re here to play our third game in the group phase. It’s an important game, we need to grow in this tournament, I think we did that against Panama and then in the performance against Tunisia.

“We want to try to do the things better that we didn’t do well against Tunisia, and then we need to look after every individual in order to be as strong as we can for the knockout phase. If that means that some players need to miss out, that needs to be done for the good of the team and the good of the squad, so I don’t think that will be a problem to make the decisions that are right.”

Belgium have three players on yellow cards – a factor that could yet end up deciding the winners of Group G if England and Belgium draw – and Martínez is not prepared to put De Bruyne, Meunier or Vertonghen in a position where they collect a needless booking that would trigger an automatic one-match ban.

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“What matters now is looking after our suspensions,” Martínez said. “I think it would be very risky and a real gamble to play any of the players who are on a yellow card against England, because you don’t want to have any player missing for the knockout stage. I believe in all the players in the squad, so I don’t think this is like at club level, when you could pick 11 players and not believe in the others.

“I believe that everyone in the national team has got the level to play for the national team, and that’s why now in the game against England everyone needs to be ready because everyone should be contributing.”

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It was put to Martínez that by making wholesale changes he runs the risk of losing some of the momentum that Belgium have built up in the World Cup already. “No, because I believe in these 23 players,” he replied. “We have 23 players who I believe any one of which could play. If that’s the case, they need to be ready to enjoy their football, so I don’t think I should be worried about the danger of losing momentum. It’s the opposite. We need to create momentum in the squad, we need to have players who are not ready to be subs but game-changers, and you only achieve that by seeing players on the pitch and having a role there.”