Paul Merson comes to the defense of Arsenal duo following remarks by England captain Harry Kane

Paul Merson has spoken out in support of Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka following criticism from Harry Kane regarding their absence from the recent Nations League squad.

Arsenal duo Saka and Rice were among a group of nine players which withdrew from England’s squad for Lee Carsley’s final two matches as interim head coach before Thomas Tuchel begins work.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Aaron Ramsdale, Levi Colwill and Jarrad Branthwaite were the other stars to pull out, leaving Carsley’s options thin on the ground.

Having suffered a shock defeat to Greece last time out, England – who currently sit second in Group B2 -are looking to exact revenge on Ivan Jovanovic’s men at Athens Olympic Stadium this evening.

The Three Lions then return to Wembley to face the Republic of Ireland in their final group match on Sunday.

‘I think England comes before anything. England comes before club,’ captain Kane told ITV Sport ahead of tonight’s clash with Greece.

‘England is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer and Gareth [Southgate] was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if, you know, that started to drift from certain players.’

Asked if the desire to play for England may have been lost during this international break, Kane replied: ‘Yeah, it’s a shame this week obviously.

‘I think it’s a tough period of the season, maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit.

‘I don’t really like it if I’m totally honest. I think England comes before anything, any club situation.’

Kane’s comments have proven divisive among supporters, with some England fans turning on the Bayern Munich striker for insinuating that players had ‘taken advantage’ of minor knocks and scrapes.

And while ex-England and Arsenal midfielder Merson understands Kane’s frustrations, he has sympathy for the likes of Rice, Saka and Palmer given they have genuinely been struggling for fitness.

Asked if he agreed with Kane’s remarks, Merson told News: ‘Yeah, I can understand that but at the same time Rice wasn’t fit, Saka came off with about 10, 15 minutes to go in probably a must-win game for Arsenal [against Chelsea] at the time. Palmer wasn’t fit, you saw him hobbling after.

‘It is a bit about timing and the circumstances… obviously, the manager’s [Carsley] last game, the new manager [Tuchel] ain’t there, you can put all this stuff together and you can put two and two together and come up with five.

‘I’ll go with the players on this one, but again, this is a big football match.

‘We need to win this football match to get back to the big table with the big nations because otherwise we’re going to play these countries again and that’s when you get withdrawals at the same time.’

Quizzed on whether he ever put club before country during his own playing career, Merson replied: ‘No, it’s always country.

‘This is what you play for, you play for your clubs to get recognition to play for your country. This is the pinnacle of football, to play for your country.

‘We live in a footballing nation, the amount of footballers that start playing football from a young age to get to the top and then to get picked for your country where you can only pick 22 players is the be all and end all.

‘You play well for your club to make sure you can play for your country, that’s what it’s all about for me.’

Merson is unsure why Carsley is still making selection decisions, despite the FA confirming Tuchel’s appointment a month ago.

‘I don’t get this, if I’m being honest, with Carsley, it’s his last game, Tuchel should be picking the squad, let’s be honest,’ he continued.

‘He should be texting Lee Carsley and saying, “Right, I want him in the squad”, otherwise it’s a waste of two football matches when Tuchel is going to come in next March and start.

‘I don’t get it, in a way. Tuchel should have a massive say in these in these two football matches, especially tonight, this is a huge, huge game tonight.’

Asked if he thinks players would be withdrawing if Tuchel was at the helm, Merson responded: ‘I don’t know, it’s one of them. The one thing I’ve always said… with Gareth Southgate everybody turned up.

‘We’ll look back in ten years’ time, he had this thing together with this England squad and these players and everybody turned up every single squad, you very rarely got people pulling out of the squad.

‘It is interesting, I’ll go with the players that they’re injured. I just think it’s circumstances and the way it’s fallen on this game.

‘If I was one of the players who played at Wembley I’d want to be playing this game in Greece and trying to put the record straight because, let’s be honest, that was embarrassing last time out.’

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