The Premier League champions are expected to be without talismanic centre-back Virgil van Dijk for the rest of the season after the Dutchman suffered cruciate ligament damage last month.

Right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold will miss the next month after picking up a calf injury in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester City, while Fabinho — who had deputised at centre-back since Van Dijk’s injury — is also recovering from a hamstring problem.

“I can’t tell you how serious it is because he is yet to have scans. What was upsetting was he was in a fair bit of pain and nobody was around him when the injury happened,” said England boss Gareth Southgate.

“I didn’t like that element of it. We are all hopeful for him that it is not what it might be.”

Gomez will definitely miss England’s friendly against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday and Nations League matches against Belgium and Iceland.