England team news: Has John Stones missed out on different role as Thomas Tuchel says 'the competition is on' ?

The Barnsley-born Manchester City player has withdrawn from the camp for the World Cup qualifying games against Andorra and in Serbia on Tuesday.

With less than a year to go until the World Cup, Stones is yet to play for coach Thomas Tuchel.

"He came with minor muscle issues to the camp and did not progress as we thought and hoped he would so he left the camp this (Friday) morning because we will not take the risk with him, not against Andorra or Serbia,” said Tuchel.

What role Stones would have played is interesting, with the coach referring in a throwaway line at the end of his broadcast press conference to the 31-year-old with 83 caps as his only fixed holding midfielder, as compared to the more mobile players competing to play there without him, which includes the returning Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Stones is the only player absent from injury of the group that met up at St George's Park at the start of the week.

When asked directly, Tuchel confirmed captain Harry Kane will start, and that no player will be rested against minnows Andorra, who frustrated England when the Three Lions laboured to a 1-0 win in Barcelona in June.

"There is no balance, the competition is on and it is World Cup season," said the German, whose contract expires after next summer's tournament in North America.

"We have a condensed camp and that means we will start with the team that we trust and the best team possible and we will manage the second game. We will not do it backwards.

"We will not get caught up in experiments and everything that counts is today and tomorrow and then we will do our assessment after the match to see who is available."

Tuchel will be looking for signs that his team has learnt from the game in the summer.

"We tried to give some new solutions to the players to break down the block a bit easier," he said. "It can feel a bit like chewing gum to break down a block like this."