England captain John Terry seems certain to be officially ruled out of Saturday's World Cup qualifier with Kazakhstan by England coach Fabio Capello this lunchtime.
While the remainder of Capello's 23-man squad went through final preparations at Arsenal's London Colney training base, Terry was having further treatment on a back injury.
As the Chelsea captain has not trained at all this week it is inconceivable he should be involved against Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Instead, the focus for Terry, who is believed to have returned briefly to Chelsea yesterday, now moves on to Wednesday's encounter with Belarus in Minsk.
Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand will take the captain's armband, while Matthew Upson, Joleon Lescott and Wes Brown will vie for the vacant place in the England starting line-up.
All three have claims on the shirt.
Lescott replaced Ferdinand in similar circumstances for the win over Andorra last month, Upson was then elevated to the bench when Ferdinand returned for the sensational victory over Croatia four days later, while Brown, who played at right back in Zagreb is used to playing with his United team-mate at Old Trafford.
It is believed Capello intends to recall Steven Gerrard in place of the injured Joe Cole.
That move would enable hat-trick hero Theo Walcott to push further upfield alongside striking duo Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey.
