England staff consult Tottenham over call-ups ahead of March internationals

March double-header: Gareth Southgate will name his England squad on Wednesday
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England medical staff visited Tottenham's training ground on Thursday for talks over a number of the club's players ahead of this month's internationals.

Gareth Southgate will name his England squad on Wednesday for the European Championship qualifying double-header against the Czech Republic at Wembley on March 22 and in Montenegro three days later.

Five of Tottenham's England regulars have suffered fitness problems of late. Eric Dier is in line for his first league start of 2019 at Southampton on Saturday following bouts of appendicitis and tonsillitis.

Harry Winks is struggling to be fit for St. Mary's with a niggling groin injury, which ruled him out of the draw with Arsenal and forced him off after 55 minutes against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

Dele Alli is hoping to return from injury on Saturday after being sidelined with a third hamstring injury of the season since January 20.

In Pictures | Dortmund vs Tottenham | 05/03/19

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Kieran Trippier will miss the game on the South Coast with a gluteal muscle strain.

Harry Kane has played 90 minutes four times in two weeks since returning 10 days ahead of schedule from an ankle injury.

With that in mind, Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Thursday: "We didn’t talk [to England] yet. The medical today staff is coming from England. Of course, then we are going to talk about all the English players potential call-ups."

Winks, in particularly, has barely had a rest until recently, starting all but four of Spurs' 23 games since December 5, and Pochettino was pessimistic about the midfielder's chances of featuring against Saints.

"We need to assess him tomorrow but I am not happy after the Dortmund game. He never really was comfortable on the pitch," the Argentine said. "I don’t know but I do not expect that he’ll change too much from Dortmund to Saturday."

After Southampton, Spurs have a three-week break before the visit to Liverpool on March 31, during which Pochettino plans to take the players to a warm-weather training camp in Barcelona.

"It’s going to be fantastic to have the chance to [rest] but I don’t know the England national team or the manager is going to, what decision he is going to take," he added.

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