Is Kieran Tierney still injured? Arsenal star rates himself 'touch and go' for England v Scotland clash
Tierney broke off from rehabilitation work on a calf “niggle” to speak to newspaper reporters about his ongoing battle to be fit to face Gareth Southgate’s side.
He is wearing compression tights to aid his recovery and remarked that he would not be doing that if he had little faith in being ready for Wembley.
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Hide AdThe player rated his own chances as “50/50” after significant progress yesterday when he managed to do some training with his teammates. Manager Steve Clarke had earlier ruled out that prospect.
“I did most of the training,” Tierney reported. “It was more of a precaution to not do everything to the end, but I did most of it.”
The injury is believed to be linked to a knee problem he suffered while playing for Arsenal in April. “It’s just so unlucky because I worked so hard to get back from my knee injury,” he said. “I came back quickly from that, played a few games. I don’t know if those few games caught up with me and I just got a wee niggle. That’s all it is, just a niggle. It’s touch and go (for Wembley).”
He is alert to the danger of making the problem worse. Scotland face Croatia in their last group game on Tuesday.
“The pain itself probably wouldn’t stop you playing,” he explained. “It’s if you played on it, it could get a lot, lot worse and you could be out for a lengthy time. You can’t risk it, not with calves.”
Teammate John McGinn has underlined Tierney’s importance and stressed that any country in the world would miss a player of his quality, as was evident in Monday’s 2-0 defeat to Czech Republic.
“Kieran is one of the best full-backs/left centre-backs in the world at the moment for me, and Arsenal's best player by a mile this season,” said the former Hibs midfielder.
“So, on Monday he was a miss. Any nation would miss Kieran Tierney in their line-up. We'll see how he is towards Friday. Hopefully he can help us on the night.”
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