Scotland boss Clarke hopeful Tierney will be fit for England clash after missing Euro 2020 opener through injury

BetOdds Scotland Scotland v Czech Republic Kieran Tierney Steve Clarke Arsenal European Championship England v Scotland

The Arsenal full-back was unavailable for the meeting with the Czech Republic after picking up a knock in training

Steve Clarke is hopeful Kieran Tierney will be fit for Scotland's clash with England after missing their Euro 2020 opener through injury.

Tierney was expected to be one of Scotland's key players at the European Championships, having firmly established himself as one of the top full-backs in the Premier League at Arsenal.

However the 24-year-old was a surprise omission from Clarke's squad to face the Czech Republic in their first Group D fixture on Monday, and the head coach has now offered an explanation for his absence.

Clarke says Tierney is recovering from a knock that he picked up in training last week, but is optimistic that he can return in time for Scotland's crunch encounter against England on Friday.

"He's had a niggle during the week," the 57-year-old manager told BBC Sport. "He's not ready for this one, but hopefully the next one."

Tierney will be a big miss for Scotland after featuring in both of their warm-up games against the Netherlands and Luxembourg earlier this month.

Those two outings saw the Gunners star increase his haul of caps to 21, having initially made his international debut as a teenager in 2016.

The other most notable absentee from Clarke's starting XI was Southampton frontman Che Adams, who has had to make do with a place on the bench with Queens Park Rangers striker Lyndon Dykes and Celtic's Ryan Christie leading the line.

The Scotland boss says his decision was based on the fact Dykes performed well against the Czech Republic in their UEFA Nations League win last year before linking up to great effect with Christie against Serbia in the European Championship playoffs.

"Lyndon was a very, very influential player against the Czech Republic in September, him and Ryan were excellent against Serbia and deserve the chance to play here again," said Clarke.

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