ANTHONY GORDON will not be involved in England’s first Euros warm-up game against Bosnia at St James’ Park tomorrow night, but the Newcastle United winger should be fit enough to feature in Friday’s friendly with Iceland at Wembley.

Gordon has not taken part in a full training session during England’s stay at Middlesbrough’s Rockliffe Park training ground as he is still feeling the effects of the ankle injury that ruled him out of Newcastle’s final game of the season at Brentford.

The winger will not be risked when England line up on Tyneside this evening for a game that will see his Newcastle team-mate, Kieran Trippier, wear the captain’s armband.

However, he has been pencilled in to feature in Friday’s game with Iceland, by which time Gareth Southgate will have trimmed his current 33-man squad to a final group of 26 which has to be submitted to UEFA before the weekend.

“All the injured players (Gordon, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw) are progressing well,” said Southgate. “We’re pleased with the progress they’ve made, but none of them will be involved (in the Bosnia game).

“I think Anthony has a good chance to be involved on Friday. With the other two, that’s a little bit more unlikely, but we’ll see how quickly they can go.”

Gordon is involved in a heated battle with a number of other attacking midfielders for a place in the final squad that will travel to Germany.

Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer are certainties to make the final cut, meaning Gordon could find himself up against Jarrod Bowen, Jack Grealish and Eberechi Eze for a place in the final 26.

It remains to be seen who gets the nod to start at St James’ this evening, but Southgate insists there are a number of different considerations that will be taken into account when he selects both his side to face Bosnia and the team that will line up against Iceland.

“There’s a reality with the constraints we’ve got,” said the England boss. “Four or five of the guys are not with us yet (Bellingham, Foden, Kyle Walker and Kobbie Mainoo), some players need minutes and the whole group who have been with us have been a couple of weeks without a game, so everybody is going to benefit from that.

“There’s a big physical aspect in terms of what we’re looking to do, and then there’s an opportunity to see some combinations and perhaps see people in different positions. Some players have fewer caps than others, so international experience of playing in what will be a brilliant atmosphere is always important. There’s lots of different objectives.”

Trippier will captain the side with Harry Kane set to be rested, meaning either Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney will get the chance to start up front.

“It’s going to be very special,” said the Newcastle full-back. “It’s obviously a place where I play week in, week out, and I’ve got to thank Gareth for giving me that trust. I’m a leader with or without the armband, but to lead the lads out is very special.”