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Roy Hodgson: Five England players withdraw from squad for Lithuania

#INSERT type:image caption:Hodgson saw his side record a ninth successive qualifying group victory. END#

England manager Roy Hodgson said five players had dropped out of his squad following the 2-0 win over Estonia at Wembley on Friday.

Hodgson's side won their ninth straight Euro 2016 qualifier thanks to goals from Theo Walcott and Raheem Sterling.

After the game, Hodgson said Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney, who missed the victory through injury, will return to Manchester United.

Joe Hart, Gary Cahill and James Milner, who all played 90 minutes against the Estonians, will also not travel to Lithuania for the final qualifier in Vilnius on Monday.

Speaking to ITV after the game, the manager said it had been "as we thought it would be."

"Estonia were well organised and they're a team that is intelligent in the way they play," he added.

"We had to work hard, we attacked a lot, we had a lot of the ball had a lot of chances. I thought we were good value for our 2-0 win.

"You have to come through these kind of games. If you are not careful you can slip up, and I'm glad we didn't.

"If you look through the other results tonight, you can see how hard it can be. A lot of games are won by the odd goal, and quite often the big teams have to work hard to get their 1-0 victory.

#INSERT type:image caption:Raheem Sterling wraps up England's win with the second goal. END#

"There are literally no easy games at international level. You have to be patient and keep working away, and I was pleased with our patience and persistence.

"We're really satisfied with the victory and if it's true what people are telling me this victory will ensure that we're seeded for the European Championships in France, and that's really important too because it fluctuates with this FIFA ranking."

Hodgson praised Spurs striker Harry Kane, who helped create the second goal, saying he "did some fantastic work at centre forward."

And he was also pleased with the performance of Man of the Match Ross Barkley, saying the Everton midfielder "has been maturing in his performances for Everton and for England."

"It was great for him to go out and play as well as he did in an important qualifying match. He deserves a lot of credit," he said.

Information from the Press Association was used in this report.

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