Wednesday 8 October 2014 15:30, UK
England Under-21s head coach Gareth Southgate will be cautious with Carl Jenkinson for their forthcoming European U21 Championship play-off with Croatia.
The right-back has had the first two months of his season disrupted by a hamstring injury, and he had to wait until Saturday to make his first start of the campaign.
Jenkinson, who joined West Ham on a season-long loan from Arsenal in the summer, suffered no reaction to his injury during the 2-0 win over QPR and was cleared to join the England Under-21 squad this week.
The 22-year-old has been limited in training ahead of Friday's opening leg against Croatia at Molineux, and Southgate is aware that Jenkinson's lack of match fitness could also restrict him to a minor role in next Tuesday's return in Vinkovci.
"Sunday was his first 90 minutes since he was out with a hamstring injury," said Southgate. "Not only because of the recovery from the injury but also because of the first 90 minutes he had back means he's still recovering.
"It's one that we'll be quite careful with because I think on the back of an injury, having played his first 90 minutes, he would be unlikely to play two 90 minutes for us physically.
"So we have just got to assess it, really, but I am not putting him under any pressure. It is important he feels comfortable with everything and that he's ready to train.
"I would think he will do some sort of training [on Wednesday] but not fully with the team just yet."
But Southgate is more positive over the fitness of Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw, who suffered a dead leg during the 2-1 win over Everton at the weekend.
"We've one or two little minor niggles, but Luke's absolutely fine," he said.
"He followed the programme we would have for him on the back of him playing on Sunday. He did 50 minutes of our session and he is in a good place."
