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Fortunately, Declan Rice will be familiar with the basic steps for managing muscle strains.

The England midfielder was spotted limping away following the team’s goalless draw against Ghana on Tuesday night.

The Arsenal star completed the full 90 minutes for the Three Lions but seemed to be hobbling slightly in the closing stages after manager Thomas Tuchel had already used all five of his substitutions.

This marks the second consecutive match in which Rice has finished with visible discomfort, having done the same after England’s 4-2 victory over Croatia last week.

Tuchel had withdrawn Rice in the 72nd minute of that Croatia fixture, explaining later: “Normally, I would never take Declan off, but I didn’t want to take any risk.”

Speaking to ITV, Rice said: “It’s just something I’ve been managing probably since the second half of the season at Arsenal – small neural pains here and there. But yeah, I’m fine. All good, just precaution.”

This suggests that his reaction following the Ghana match may not necessarily be serious. For a player who has been dealing with such minor issues, feeling some discomfort immediately after a game is not unexpected.

As Rice himself indicated, he had been struggling with some recurring but undisclosed calf-related niggles during the latter half of Arsenal’s title-winning campaign last season.

Despite that, he started in all but three of Arsenal’s Premier League fixtures, one of which was the final game of the season when the title had already been secured and the Champions League final was approaching.

England are now in a strong position to progress to the knockout phase unless a highly unlikely scenario unfolds in the final Group L matches on Saturday.

This could give Tuchel the flexibility to consider resting Rice ahead of the round of 32.

England currently share the top spot in Group L with Ghana, leading the table on goal difference.

To fail to finish at least second, England would need to lose by three or more goals to already-eliminated Panama, while Croatia would have to narrowly defeat Ghana in the other group fixture.

However, Croatia’s 1-0 win against Panama later on Tuesday ensures that England will finish no lower than third in their group. With four points already secured, that should be sufficient to place them among the eight best third-placed teams advancing to the next round.