Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck and Raheem Sterling out of England squad to face Italy

Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck and Liverpool's Raheem Sterling are among four England players to have returned to their clubs following the 4-0 victory over Lithuania, while Ryan Bertrand has earned a late call-up, the Football Association have now confirmed.

Sterling and Everton left-back Leighton Baines were already scheduled to miss the upcoming friendly against Italy, yet Welbeck and James Milner will also now play no part in Turin and have both withdrawn from the squad.

Welbeck, who started ahead of crowd favourite Harry Kane, was arguably England's most impressive performer in the Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley, providing a crucial injection of width and pace into Roy Hodgson's surprisingly fluid 4-3-3 system.

The Manchester United youth graduate was heavily involved in captain Wayne Rooney's early opener and continued his own fine run of international form just before half-time after guiding Jordan Henderson's cross past visiting goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis.

An otherwise hugely positive night for Welbeck was unfortunately overshadowed by a knee injury that could threaten his participation in Arsenal's next Premier League fixture against Liverpool on April 4.

"We knew we were going to be losing Raheem Sterling who had an injection last night on an on-going injury and hopefully that will help him as we go forward," Hodgson told the FA's official website on Saturday afternoon (March 28).

"We have a problem with James Milner who had to leave, we decided to let Leighton Baines go home and of course we lost Danny Welbeck, who unfortunately picked up a slight knee injury [against Lithuania].

"So those four players won't be with us going forward but it means a chance for the other guys in the squad to show what they can do. We are going to bring Ryan Bertrand in because with Leighton Baines gone we are now left with only one recognised left-back, which is Kieran Gibbs and we wanted two recognised left-backs for both games."

Welbeck and Sterling's enforced absence should result in Kane securing his first England start against Italy. The Tottenham striker continued his excellent scoring record by notching his first goal for his country just 87 seconds after being introduced as a second-half substitute against Lithuania.

Bertrand, meanwhile, will hope to win his third international cap at the Juventus Stadium. His omission from Hogson's original travelling party was met with derision by those who had seen him perform so consistently for Southampton this season and he should now play some part for England in the absence of Baines, Luke Shaw and Danny Rose.