England's Theo Walcott has been ruled out with a cirus. Photo: Tony Marshall/EMPICS Sport

Roy Hodgson has his fingers crossed that the virus which ruled Theo Walcott out of tonight’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine does not spread to any more members of his depleted squad.

Walcott was sent home yesterday morning after being violently sick while Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge missed training with stomach cramps.

Although Sturridge is expected to be fit, England boss Hodgson took the precaution of drafting in three players as cover, including Tottenham midfielder Jake Livermore.

“Theo trained fully on Sunday and was as fit as a fiddle, then he was violently sick on Monday morning and had to be sent home,” he said.

“We’ve brought in three players who interest us for the future, and that’ll be a contingency plan so we’ll fill our quota on the bench.”