England have already suffered a major setback for their quarter-final match against Switzerland at Euro 2024

England faces major defensive problems for the 2024 European Championship quarter-final against Switzerland.

The “Three Lions” go into next weekend’s quarter-finals in Düsseldorf with a decimated defense after Marc Guehi received his second yellow card of the tournament in the dramatic 2-1 extra-time win against Slovakia in the round of 16 on Sunday evening.

The Crystal Palace defender brought down Slovakian striker David Strelec after just three minutes following a short pass from Kieran Trippier, earning the first of a series of bookings from Turkish referee Umut Meler, who also quickly showed yellow cards to his teammates Kobbie Mainoo and Jude Bellingham.

Guehi also received a yellow card in England’s final Group C match against Slovenia in Cologne earlier this week, meaning he now faces an automatic one-match suspension as yellow cards at the European Championships are not erased until after the quarter-finals.

This is a major blow for Southgate, as Guehi had filled in admirably alongside John Stones in central defence when Harry Maguire missed the tournament through injury, and was arguably England’s best defender in Germany.

Either Ezri Konsa or Lewis Dunk are expected to start alongside Stones against Switzerland, with full-backs Kyle Walker and Joe Gomez also able to play at centre-back if required.

Jarrad Branthwaite and Jarell Quansah were among the players dropped from Southgate’s provisional squad before the start of the tournament.

Southgate may have to make two changes to his defence against the Swiss, as Trippier had to be substituted against Slovakia due to injury after coming under heavy pressure in the second half of normal time.

Bukayo Saka was deployed at left-back as Cole Palmer came on as a substitute in attack, but it is very unlikely from the start that this will be repeated in Düsseldorf if Trippier cannot play.

Luke Shaw finally recovered from a thigh injury that had kept him out of action since February and was able to train this week and start on the bench against Slovakia, but Southgate admitted after the game that it would have been a “huge risk” to play him as he felt he had a “chance” to play against Switzerland.

Shaw is the only specialist left-back in England’s tournament squad, with right-back Trippier having occupied that position throughout the European Championships so far.

If neither of them is fit enough to start against Switzerland and Southgate is reluctant to start in that position, someone like Gomez could step in at left-back, while Walker is also under pressure due to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move to the right-back position after a tough night against Slovakia.