Lallana has not scored in 26 England appearances and suffered an injury scare in training this week, while Sterling has been boosted by a personal call from new Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola to tell the £49million youngster to block out negative thoughts.

England staff had become worried that Sterling’s confidence was being knocked by online critics and booing supporters after the first two Group B games and he was dropped for the draw with Slovakia. But the 21-year-old has convinced Hodgson and his team-mates that he is ready to fire during training over the past couple of days and will step straight back in.