Stuart Pearce believes it would be ‘foolish’ for Thomas Tuchel to take a gamble on Declan Rice’s injury for England’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway on Saturday.
Rice has been managing a hamstring problem since Christmas but continued to play a key role in Arsenal’s Premier League title success last season.
The Arsenal midfielder has started in all but one of England’s games at the World Cup, while he was seen with an icepack on his left hamstring during the closing stages of the 2-1 win against DR Congo in the last 32.
Tuchel revealed that Rice was playing with ‘terrible pain’ against DR Congo but the 27-year-old was able to last a full 90 minutes in England’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Mexico last Sunday.
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But ahead of England’s quarter-final against Norway, which kicks off at 10pm BST on Saturday, former Three Lions captain Pearce insists Tuchel should resist the urge to pick Rice if he is not fully fit.
‘The only thing that might be a consideration to him [Tuchel] is the injury… a concern that’s been with him [Rice] for a few games,’ Pearce told talkSPORT.
Adrian Durham, the show’s host, replied: ‘He’s not 100 per cent, let’s put it that way.’
Pearce added: ‘Yeah, exactly, but you wouldn’t think it with his performances.
‘Is that going to do him more damage and is he likely to break down? If there is a risk there, I think you’d be foolish as a manager to play him.’
When asked about Rice’s injury after the win over DR Congo, Tuchel said: ‘When Declan tells you that he is in terrible pain, then you know he cannot take it anymore, so he was grateful that we took him off.
‘He just said after the game it’s not an issue, he will recover, so there is no injury. He was just in pain so I hope he is right. It’s more nerval pain.’
Meanwhile, Rice is a doubt for the game against Norway this weekend after he missed a second successive day of training with England on Thursday due to a sickness bug.
The Arsenal midfielder has been isolated from his England teammates in order to stop the illness from spreading across the squad.
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