Germany v England plagued by injury

On Wednesday night Germany and England will play an international friendly ahead of the weekend's World Cup qualifiers. Although there will still be some outstanding players on display, both teams have seen players that would normally be in the starting lineup having to withdraw with injury.

The hosts Germany will be without their first choice goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who has remained with Bayern Munich due to a calf injury. The World Champions will also be without the talented trio of Mesut Ozil, Julian Draxler and Mario Gomez. 

England also have their injury problems in the build up to the match. Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney and Danny Sturridge all missed out due to recent injuries, and since the squad selection was announced, Michail Antonio, Phil Jones and now Raheem Sterling have all picked up injuries, making them unavailable for the Germany fixture. 

Germany will be captained by Lukas Podolski, who will be appearing in his 130th and final match for Germany. Podolski has scored 48 goals for his country in the previous 129 caps and will be looking to add to that in his final game. 

There has been intrigue as to who Gareth Southgate would select as his first captain since taking charge of England, especially with Wayne Rooney missing. Chelsea's Gary Cahill has been given the armband, however he will be suspended for Sunday's match against Lithuania, so it will be interesting to see who will take over.