LONDON, April 5 — Southampton forward Jay Rodriguez’s hopes of making Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the World Cup are under threat after he badly injured his knee in today’s 4-1 Premier League loss to Manchester City.

The 24-year-old, Southampton’s top scorer with 15 league goals this term, fell awkwardly midway through the first half at the Etihad Stadium as he was attempting to control a high ball.

In obvious distress, he was taken away by stretcher and was replaced by James Ward-Prowse.

“I don’t know how Jay Rodriguez is,” manager Mauricio Pochettino told BT Sport.

“It’s not looking good but we’ll be assessing it in Southampton.”

Capped once by England in a friendly against Chile in November, Rodriguez, along with fellow Saints Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Luke Shaw, had pressed his case for inclusion on the plane to Brazil with a number of outstanding performances as Southampton cement themselves in the top half of the table. — Reuters