Declan Rice expects England’s big names to be back in Thomas Tuchel’s squad soon | OneFootball

Declan Rice says England still need their notable absentees despite describing his side as an “unreal team”.

Thomas Tuchel’s side followed up last month’s World Cup qualifying statement win over Serbia with a 3-0 friendly success over local rivals Wales.

Goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka inside the opening 20 minutes at Wembley put Craig Bellamy’s side to the sword and continued the momentum as things begin to click under the German head coach.

Their improvements over the last two camps have been without big names Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer as a host of other players have taken their chance.

But Rice, who captained his country in Harry Kane’s absence on Thursday, said: “I think every time you play for England, you want to grab the shirt, you want to grab your chance.

“But we do miss Jude, for sure. We miss Phil, we miss Cole, we miss loads of players for reasons that the manager’s obviously said.

“We are obviously an unreal team, and they’re in the team as well. Let’s not get away from that.

“What they’ve done in an England shirt is incredible.

“We’re looking forward to having them back next camp, hopefully.

“As a team, we want to keep integrating everyone as much as possible before the World Cup.

“I think that’s the most important thing, and we’ve done that in the past.”

Rice says he feels “unstoppable” as he continued his impressive start to the season.

The 26-year-old thriving for Tuchel’s side as they build momentum towards a World Cup challenge next summer and that is complementing his excellent club form, where he has helped Arsenal to the top of the Premier League table after seven games.

The midfielder said: “It’s because I’ve got two managers who lay it out really easily, the game plan I have to do and where I have to be, and obviously I’m the one who has to go and execute it.

“But when you have confidence in football, you feel unstoppable at times. (I) ended the season really strong last year, probably didn’t start the first one or two games of this season as good as I wanted, but I’ve picked up my form now and feel really strong.

“I feel fit. I feel really confident in my game, so hopefully the only way is up for me with England and Arsenal, so there’s a lot of positive things to come.”