France face left-back crisis ahead of potential England clash

France have suffered another injury setback in defence ahead of the knockout stages of the World Cup.

The reigning and defending World Champions face off against Poland tomorrow, with the winner in line to face the victors of England vs Senegal.

However, an injury suffered by Theo Hernandez has meant that France are left with no available left-backs.

The news comes after Theo's brother, Lucas, suffered a serious knee injury in their opening game against Australia.

According to the latest reports, Theo missed training with team in Qatar on Friday as he has reportedly picked up an ankle injury in training.

This could mean Didier Deschamps could be without a natural left-back for the knockout games, including that potential clash with England.

In their final group game, Deschamps experimented with Real Madrid's Eduardo Camavinga at left-back to mixed results, as the French manager fielded a largely rotated team in the 1-0 loss to Tunisia.

It remains to be seen whether they look to stick with the young midfielder in that position, but none of their other squad options are a natural fit in that position.

Alamy)

Whoever does play there will be out of position, even if they look to play one of either Benjamin Pavard or Jules Kounde there.

Not only is the injury a big issue for the current line-up, losing both Hernandez brothers means they lose a lot of quality and experience, given that Lucas was a key member of the side who won in Russia four years ago, and Theo has developed into one of the best attacking full-backs in Europe.

If England were to come through against Senegal to face France, that would certainly be an area of weakness to target.

Alamy)

The likes of Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka facing up against Camavinga or right-back playing out of position would certainly give the Three Lions a huge advantage.

That's only if England beat Senegal and France beat Poland and we've already seen plenty of crazy results so far this tournament.

England were one of four unbeaten teams in the group stages and have scored nine goals in total from three games, whereas France lost out to Tunisia, but beat Australia and Denmark, scoring six goals in total.

Whatever happens, we're sure it'll be box office entertainment.