Roberto Martínez has promised to make “major changes” against England, with Romelu Lukaku highly unlikely to feature after the Belgium manager revealed that the World Cup’s joint-leading scorer picked up an ankle ligament injury in the comfortable victory over Tunisia that all but confirms a place in the last 16.

Lukaku was withdrawn in the 59th minute during the 5-2 win against Tunisia, after scoring his third and fourth goals of the tournament to tie level with Cristiano Ronaldo for the Golden Boot, and the Manchester United striker will be assessed within the next 48 hours to establish the extent of his ankle problem. Martínez also said that Eden Hazard was suffering with a calf problem and that Dries Mertens had an ankle injury. Hazard, who scored twice against Tunisia, described his injury as minor and suggested that he would be fine.

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Although Belgium are not mathematically sure of a place in the last 16, their passage to the next phase feels like a foregone conclusion after winning their opening two fixtures and will be confirmed if England avoid defeat against Panama today. With that in mind, Martínez said he had no intention of picking his first-choice players against Gareth Southgate’s team in Kaliningrad on Thursday.

Asked whether he would change the team against England, the Belgium manager replied: “The answer is very clear. If we could have seven days to prepare the game and then have seven days for the next game I would say carry on with the same starting XI. The reality now is that we are qualified, and in a tournament like the World Cup you’re only as good as the 23 players in your squad. There’ll be opportunities to give minutes to other players who deserve them. We need to assess the three injury concerns.”

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Lukaku appears to be the biggest worry. “It’s the external ankle ligament of his foot, it was a knock that he had late in the first half and he tried to play through it and he couldn’t,” Martínez explained. “He’s going to be assessed and then we’ll find out a bit more in 48 hours.”

Hazard, who scored Belgium’s first goal against Tunisia from the penalty spot, seemed to be moving freely after the match and said: “I felt in the first half something in my calf but not something big so I think tomorrow it’s going to be OK.”